The Next Step
by Neuropsych
Summary: (FINISHED)Shawn's first days at the academy... can he measure up to those around him and the legacy of the people he looks up to the most? (Rated for language)
1. 01

_Author's Note: This is a story about Shawn and his first days of the academy. I don't think it'll be all that long, but you never know with me. I did some research on the Air Force Academy, but I'm not going to get into the daily routine all that much, and if I'm off on the details – or just plain wrong – please don't bother to point them out. This is for fun._

_Disclaimer: SG-1 isn't mine, but Shawn and everyone I make up (including Jaffer!) are._

.........................

The Next Step 

The black truck pulled up to the front admittance area, and came to a gentle stop, and both occupants of the truck sat still for a long moment, looking at the bustle around them. In the back of the truck was a large black lab, who was sniffing the air curiously as he looked around, checking the people that came walking close by to make sure they weren't a threat to the people he was in charge of, and waiting to see what they were doing here.

"Are you nervous?"

Shawn Adams looked over at Jack O'Neill, and gave him a shaky smile.

"Nah. It's just the Air Force Academy and the entire hope for my _future_... how could I be nervous?"

Jack smiled, and reached out and ran his hand along Shawn's head. The brown hair had been shaved to military stubble, so there wasn't anything there to ruffle – which was one of Jack's favorite habits when it came to Shawn.

"You'll be fine. It's just the Air Force Academy. How tough can it be?"

"_You_ didn't go here."

"I could have."

That was news to Shawn.

"Really?"

"Yup." Jack looked around, as if checking to make sure no one was looking over his shoulder – more of a habit than anything. "My dad was a Medal of Honor winner." He said. "When your dad wins the Medal of Honor, you can go to any of the service academies automatically once you're old enough."

"Really? Your dad was in the Military?" Shawn wondered why he'd never asked Jack about his folks. It just hadn't come up.

O'Neill nodded.

"He was in the Marines."

"Why didn't _you_ go into the Marines?"

"Too lazy."

Shawn grinned.

"Why didn't you go to a service academy?"

"I was too smart to." Jack said, smiling. "See... the Air Force Academy is a great place, don't get me wrong. I'm sure West point and Annapolis are, too, but there's a lot of stuff I did in college that you won't be able to, because it's the military. Very structured."

"_Sam_ went here."

"I guess I'm just smarter than her."

Shawn smiled. _That_ wasn't something he'd heard Jack say before. "I can't wait to tell her you said that."

"Well... I don't know that you _need_ to tell her I said it."

The boy's smile broadened, but he didn't reply to that. Instead he latched onto something else Jack had said.

"So, your dad was in the military, and you're in the military... so I guess I'm carrying on a family tradition."

Jack nodded. He hadn't actually thought about it like that, but it was true.

"A regular scion."

Shawn nodded.

"I'll have to do something impressive and save the world so I can win the Medal of Honor and carry that tradition, too."

Jack, of course, had been awarded the medal the first time he and the rest of SG-1 had saved the world from the Goa'uld. It hadn't been public, of course, but he had the medal stashed away somewhere in his house and he occasionally wore the ribbon – although not very often.

"Just concentrate on graduating, first, Shawn," Jack said, smiling. "And try to enjoy yourself. Remember what Sam said about how much fun she had here."

"Yeah. But Sam's a _genius_."

"You did pretty well on your entrance exams, don't forget."

Shawn hadn't gotten his brains from Jack, that was for sure. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was getting tutored by aliens who had far more knowledge than any school on Earth would ever have.

"Yeah..." Shawn didn't look quite convinced.

Jack smiled, and put his hand on Shawn's shoulder.

"It's just the Air Force Academy, Shawn. There's nothing here that you can't handle." Jack himself was going to make sure of that. "You do your best, and if you need me, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Jack."

"I'll see you on your first vacation, okay?" Jack told him. That would be Christmas break – which seemed to be a million years from then.

"Okay. We'll go skiing with Andrew's folks."

"Or... we can go and sit in front of a fire and do nothing..."

Shawn smiled; a little more relaxed after the talk with Jack. It wasn't like he was going to be thousands of miles away, after all, and he knew that if he needed him, Jack would come running the minute Shawn asked. Of course, he was going to try and do this without any help – like Jack would – but it was reassuring to know that he wasn't alone.

"I'm going to make you proud of me, Jack." Shawn said as he opened the door of the truck.

"I already am proud of you, Shawn," Jack told him. "Don't you ever forget that."

The young man's face lit up, and he looked back at Jack when he shut the door.

"I won't."

He walked to the back of the truck and pulled his backpack out of the bed, and scratched the black lab's ears.

"You take care of Jack and Sam for me, okay, Jaffer?"

The lab wagged his tail furiously and wuffled Shawn's face.

Buoyed by these assurances, Shawn turned and headed up the steps. He was ready for this. It was just the Air Force Academy, after all.


	2. 02

The youngest of the cadets walking the halls were at least 4 years older than he was. The oldest were 8 to 10 years older. The difference was immediately obvious. They were all bigger than he was, after all. The only thing that they all had in common – besides the cadet uniform Shawn and the others were wearing – was that he knew exactly where he was going, too. Some of those that were wearing first year patches on their uniforms like he was look a little lost, but Jack and Sam had made sure that Shawn would know his way around the academy when he came.

Earlier that summer they'd take him down, and Sam had given him a thorough tour of the place, pointing out where the dorms were, where the gyms and classrooms and pools and cafeteria and infirmary were. Even where the offices were of the Commandant, and all his subordinates were. Shawn had a great memory, and even with the bustle around him, he knew exactly where his room was.

His room wasn't at all like a normal college dorm. Yes, there were two beds – one for him, one for his roommate – two desks, a window and two footlockers for most of his gear to go in – except the uniforms, which would hang in the shared closet – but there was where the differences ended. The room was neat and tidy when Shawn walked into it, and he knew that he and his roommate were expected to keep it that way. There were no slobs allowed in the Air Force. He knew this from listening to Sam tell him what was expected of cadets. In that, _Sam_ had been far more help to Shawn than Jack was. She'd been there, after all. He'd seen her name on the honor wall, where there were records and stats kept. Sam had made her mark at the Academy, and Shawn was determined he was going to, also.

"Hey!"

He was barely through the door of his room when someone came in behind him. A tall, incredibly tanned guy with short hair that was so light it was almost white, and blue eyes that were brighter than any summer sky Shawn had ever seen. This was his roommate, River. Shawn knew, because he'd seen his picture and had received a letter from him.

"Hi."

"You _have_ to be Shawn."

The younger man nodded, smiling nervously, and stuck out his hand.

"Shawn Adams. It's nice to finally meet you."

The guy grinned and shook Shawn's hand.

"I'm River – but I suspect everyone's just going to call us by our last names around here, so it'll be _Hayden_, huh?" His smile was so friendly that Shawn's nervous grin broadened. "You can call me River, or Hayden. Whatever you want."

"Same here."

"So, it'll be _Shawn_, then... unless they make me call you _Adams_."

"River it is."

River nodded, and pointed to the bed on the right.

"I took that bunk, but if you want it, I'm not married to it."

"Either is fine. thanks."

Shawn crossed over and set his bag on his bed, and sat down. The rest of his gear had already been delivered, and was sitting in a neat pile by the door. He'd put it away later.

River sat down on his bed, watching Shawn, obviously curious.

"So... you're really only fourteen?"

Shawn nodded. He was ready for questions.

"I just turned fourteen."

"I just turned nineteen." River said. "How'd you get in so young?" He grinned, "I was going to ask you who you had to sleep with to get in so young, but I suppose _that_ wasn't the method you used, huh?"

Shawn shook his head, smiling. He already liked this guy.

"I've been taking advanced classes for a while, now, and I took the Academy entrance exam land passed, so I decided to come."

"So you're a genius, huh?"

Shawn shrugged.

"I wouldn't say that... but I do okay."

"Are the rest of your family geniuses?"

Shawn shook his head. No, my mom's an alien, and my dad's an Air Force Colonel. Yeah, that wasn't the response to make.

"No. Just me."

River laughed.

"Well, at least I know where to come if I need help with my homework."

Shawn smiled. This was going to be much better than he'd hoped. River seemed to be willing to accept Shawn even though he was a lot younger. Maybe the rest of the people around him would, too.

"You're from California?"

River nodded, accepting the switch from asking questions to answering them readily.

"San Diego."

"What did you do there?"

"Surf, water ski, windsailing, kayaking. You name it."

Which explained his tan.

"Why did you come here instead of a regular school?"

"Because I'm going to be an Air Force pilot, and this is the place to learn that," River told him. "Just like Tom Cruise in _Top Gun_."

"He was a _Navy_ pilot."

River laughed.

"You _are_ a genius, aren't you?"

The older cadet leaned forward.

"Think about it, though, Shawn. It's an _airplane_, right? Who's in charge of the _air_? The _Air Force_, right? Make sense?"

Shawn nodded.

"Yeah."

"Besides," River said, leaning back on his bed. "The Air Force is the best of all the services to be in. If I joined the Navy I'd probably end up on a ship somewhere, and as much as I like the water, I _don't_ like big ships. If I joined the Army, I'd be marching everywhere I went, and that just doesn't sound fun – and don't even get me started on the joys of being a _Marine_!"

Shawn nodded. He knew a lot of Marines, and they were all good people, but he'd heard stories from them about their boot camp days, and what he'd heard had definitely told him he didn't want to be a _Marine_ any more than River did.

"Why are _you_ going into the Air Force?" River asked. "Why doesn't a genius kid like you go to MIT? Or Princeton, or Harvard?"

"Because I know a lot of Air Force officers, and I'm going to be like them, some day."

River nodded. That was as good a reason as any.

"What are you thinking of becoming? A scientist of some sort?"

"No. Well... maybe, if they want me to be. I'd rather do special ops, and stuff like that." What he was _going_ to do was become an SGC member, but he couldn't tell River that.

"You're going to have to put on a few pounds."

Shawn smiled. He was fairly muscular for his age because of his weapons and self-defense training sessions with the Jaffa, and with Teal'c and Jack, but he was still about forty pounds lighter than River, who was fairly lanky for his age.

"I'll grow."

A bell rang out in the hall, and River and Shawn both got to their feet. The time for socializing was over, they had their first assembly with the other first year cadets and they didn't want to be late.

"Come on Shawn," River said, heading for the door. "We're not going to get to be more than floor moppers if we're late for our first assembly."

They left the room and joined the throngs in the hall that were all heading the same direction. Shawn followed in River's wake, hoping that the rest of his day was going to be as smooth as his initial introduction to his roommate.

He wasn't going to get that wish.


	3. 03

Considering he was pretty much the smallest of all the people in the hallway, Shawn was well aware that he stuck out like a sore thumb. This became more evident as they all walked down the halls and out to the parade grounds where a small group of instructors in dress blues were standing, waiting for the cadets to join them.

There was a lot of low murmurs as the other cadets realized fairly quickly that someone in their midst was a lot younger than they were. Most of the murmuring was curious – mainly Shawn heard the cadets asking each other how old they thought he was, and what did they think he was doing there so young, benign things like that. There was one voice close at hand, though, that was louder and far more antagonistic than any of the others.

"The Air Force must be recruiting on the playgrounds..."

Shawn looked over and saw a tall, slender young man wearing the same first year cadet patch that he was, and a sneer. He turned back, figuring it would probably be best to just ignore that remark, even if it was uncalled for.

"Halloween's not for months, kid... maybe you should go take off the costume..."

It was obvious the guy was trying to goad him, and just as obvious that he was trying to gain a little notability at Shawn's expense, because he kept looking at the cadets around him when he said these things, waiting for laughter. There was a little, but not much – most of the cadets didn't have a problem with Shawn, and they didn't have any loyalty to the heckler.

"Ignore him, Shawn," River advised, casting a menacing look over at the other cadet. River was about 3 inches taller, although they probably weighed the same. "He wouldn't know a real cadet if one came up and kicked his ass because he made a bunch of smart assed comments about the wrong person..."

Shawn looked over at the other cadet – whose name on his uniform said 'Brooks'. Obviously, Brooks didn't like that, although the easy, laid back way that River had just threatened him made a few of the other cadets smile.

"You stay out of this," Brooks said, frowning. He didn't like the way he'd just had the tables turned on him, and it showed.

"You keep your mouth shut. Shawn here has more brains in his pinky than you have in your whole head, and if you don't stop giving him a hard time I'll show you just how we treat bastards in La Jolla."

Brooks stepped forward; ready to meet this challenge, but Shawn stepped between the two of them. As much as he appreciated River sticking up for him – and he did, because it showed a loyalty that Shawn liked – he also knew that he couldn't let River fight his battles for him. If he did it today, the other cadet would think he needed him to do it every day, and Shawn was determined that he make it at the academy on his own.

"Move, pipsqueak." Brooks said, putting his hand on Shawn's chest to push him aside. He'd already forgotten that he was making fun of Shawn; he was ready to teach this blonde guy just how they treated bastards like him in New Jersey.

Shawn took hold of the hand that was against his chest and smoothly turned the thumb inward, causing the whole hand – and then the wrist and arm – to follow. Much to his amazement, Brooks found himself suddenly on his knees with pain lancing through his lower arm and hand and Shawn holding that hand with a surprisingly strong grip.

"I don't want any trouble with you," Shawn said, releasing the hand and taking a half step back. "I just want to go to the assembly and –"

"What's going on here?"

A loud voice interrupted Shawn, and all of them turned and saw a small group of officers walking toward them.

"Fuck..."

Brooks got to his feet, shaking his hand to get some feeling back in it and Shawn and River and the other cadets all came to attention as the officers drew closer.

"Well?"

A Lieutenant Colonel was the one who was waiting for a response, and Shawn spoke up before most of the others had even managed to recognize what rank he was.

"Nothing, Sir," Shawn said, casting a glance over at Brooks and River. Both of them were obviously trying to come up with something to say that would keep them out of trouble. Fighting on the first day of class was not going to make a good impression with any of the instructors and all of the cadets knew it. "I was showing off."

The Colonel looked down at Shawn, who probably would have been a lot more intimidated if he hadn't spent the last four years of his life in constant contact with a full bird Colonel who had a lot harder of a stare than this guy's.

"I like the energy, Adams," the Colonel said, "Why don't you and your friends go run some of it off?" He pointed to the large field. "Five laps, now."

"Yes, Sir."

Shawn sighed. Running in dress shoes wasn't going to be much fun, but it was a lot better than getting in trouble. He moved away from the rest of the cadets, followed by River and Brooks.

"This isn't over, Adams," Brooks said under his breath.

"Go fuck yourself, Brooks," River said, just as softly as the three of them broke into a trot, beginning their run while everyone else looked on. "You better stay away from Shawn, or next time he'll probably break your hand instead of just bringing you to your knees."

Brooks' face colored, and Shawn knew it wasn't because of the strain of running laps. Obviously the cadet hadn't appreciated Shawn humiliating him in front of everyone. Shawn really hadn't even thought about it, he'd just gotten mad that the guy had put his hand on him and had taken care of it. _That_ kind of reaction was something that he _did_ get from Jack. He knew he'd have to do a better job of controlling his temper if he wanted to stay on the good side of the instructors. Bad enough he was already running laps on his first day.

Hopefully Brooks – and all the others who might want to be like him – would recognize Shawn wasn't quite as open game as the older cadet had obviously thought he was. As much as he wanted to stay out of trouble, Shawn wasn't about to let himself be bullied. No chance in hell.


	4. 04

_Author's note: I'm sorry, guys... my schedule is crazy with school starting soon, so I'm typing as fast as I can.. This story might end up being longer than I intended it to be, depending on a few things, but I don't think anyone will mind... I hope!_

Yeah, running in dress shoes _hadn't_ been fun. By the time Shawn, River and Cadet Brooks were finished with their laps and ready to rejoin the rest of the first year cadets, Shawn's feet were sore from rubbing against the stiff lip of his shoe's heels. Not to mention the toes! He didn't complain, though, and neither did River or Brooks. They were all smart enough to know that complaining definitely wasn't going to be a good idea.

The Cadets were divided into groups, called platoons, and much to Brooks' annoyance – and River's – Brooks, River and Shawn were all in the same platoon. Along with six other young men – and three young women – they were told that this was going to be their 'family' for the first year they were at the academy. The Colonel looked at River, Shawn and Brooks, as though waiting for them to say something, but they wisely kept their feelings to themselves and didn't allow anything to even show on their expressions.

"I want you to know three facts about everyone in your platoon by lunchtime," the Colonel said, addressing the whole class. "You will be tested on this, so I suggest you take the next hour or so and get to know each other." He turned and left them all still standing on the parade ground, followed by his cadre of officer instructors. The people in the platoons waited for them to leave, and then started talking – although most of the discussion was about Shawn, who ignored it as well as he could and tried to focus on his group.

"Did you _see_ him take that guy down?"

"I bet he couldn't do it to _me_."

"That was pretty impressive."

"_Brooks_ sure wasn't expecting it, was he?" There was a soft round of chuckles from that group, and Brooks flushed heatedly, glaring over at them.

"Let's go somewhere else," River said. As much as he enjoyed listening to the mocking of the other cadet, he wasn't going to be able to learn about the other people in his platoon if he couldn't focus on them.

"Who died and made _you_ the boss?" Brooks asked, even though half the group was already nodding their agreement.

"Do you _want_ to stand around here and listen to them make fun of you?" River asked.

"_Fuck_ _you_, Hayden."

Shawn sighed, but it was purely silent. He wondered who Brooks hated more; him or River.

"I'll go with you, River," Shawn said, heading for the edge of the grounds. He didn't want to hear what everyone was saying, either. The rest of the group followed Shawn, leaving River and Brooks standing alone, glaring at each other, hands lightly balled into fists at their sides. The two of them weren't ready to get into more trouble, however, and there was no way of knowing whether or not they were being watched by the instructors, so after a little more posturing, they both turned and wordlessly followed Shawn as well.

"So... I'm betting I'm the youngest," Shawn said as they stood in a little group well away from the others, "So I'll go first. Then we can just go around the circle."

There were slight smiles all around – except from Brooks, who simply glared.

"I'll tell you all some things about me, and you guys decide what you remember. The Colonel didn't say we couldn't remember the same three things, but it might not be a bad idea to mix it up a little."

The rest nodded; agreeing. As long as someone started, they didn't care who it was, and Shawn's suggestion was a good one.

"So... I'm fourteen. I'm from Colorado Springs, where I've lived all my life. I don't have any brothers or sisters, no pets – although I like dogs – and my favorite color is green."

The others listened, some obviously wishing they had a pen to write something down. Three facts about everyone in the group was really quite a tall order, after all.

"You take karate?" One of the girls asked.

Shawn shook his head, ignoring the way Brooks flushed again.

"I've been in self defense training with some friends of mine since I was ten, but it's nothing too formal."

"It _works_, though," River said, smiling.

Shawn nodded. "Yeah."

He looked around the group of older cadets, waiting to see if any of them had any more questions for him, and then looked at River, who was standing next to him.

"You want to go next?"

"Sure." River struck a pose, and the girls all smiled, as did a few of the guys. "I'm River Hayden. I'm nineteen. I'm Shawn's roommate. From San Diego, California, and I surf, wakeboard, ski, and fish and do pretty much anything there is to do in the sun. I like dogs, fast boats and pretty girls. My favorite color is blonde."

There were assorted snickers from the guys, and again there were smiles from the girls – all of whom were blonde. River was a good-looking guy, and it was obvious he wasn't above flirting with the girls in his platoon – although that kind of activity was definitely off-limits to the Cadets.

And so it went around the small circle. They all told the group something about themselves; where they were from, what their names were, what they enjoyed doing in their free time, and all of them mentioned a favorite color – including Brooks, whose first name turned out to be Ian. He liked to drive fast, had played football in high school – no big shock there – and his dog's name was Bubba. Bubba was a black lab, Shawn had been interested in hearing, and the only time the scowl on Ian Brooks' face faded was when he was telling the group about big ole Bubba, who Ian was certain was the best dog in the world.

Common ground, Shawn decided as he listened to Hilary Fesk tell them about her hobbies. Maybe Ian wasn't such a turd after all. No one who liked his dog that much could be a _complete_ asshole, after all.

By the time the instructors came to round them up and take them to their first class, Shawn knew the names of all the people in his platoon and was pretty sure he could tell the Colonel something about each of them. Maybe it wasn't something interesting, but it would be something. The people in his group – while all older than him and with different hobbies – were all fairly decent people as far as he could tell. Except Brooks... but who knew?


	5. 05

Shawn sat next to River in their first class of the day – Physics. Not at all surprising, Ian Brooks chose to sit on the other side of the room from the two, although he was forced to move when the physics instructor told them they were to sit with their platoons. Since most of Shawn's platoon had arranged themselves around River and Shawn already – undoubtedly drawn to River's sunny character, Ian was forced to move over to join them instead of _them_ moving over to join him. He kept his annoyance pretty much to himself, though, and sat down behind Shawn.

The Physics instructor was no stranger to Shawn. Lieutenant Rett was the boy's student advisor and Shawn had had a few discussions with him in the past few weeks leading up to the start of the term. Mainly about the possibility of teasing or ridiculing – which Brooks was a prime example of, although he was the only one so far who had been too vocal about Shawn's age. Other topics had included what subjects the young man should take, what would be expected of him in the first weeks, what kind of extra curricular activities were available to first year cadets, that sort of thing. And also reminding him that if he needed anything, he was the one to come to.

Shawn listened as the course goals were outlined to the cadets, but he wasn't worried. He was good at physics and all the other sciences and maths. Thor and the other Asgard had given him a very solid grounding in them – among other subjects – and he knew that academically there was no way he was going to wash out of the academy. Despite his earlier joke about knowing who to come to if he needed help with his homework, River didn't seem to be worried about the curriculum, either, Shawn noticed. The blonde cadet was taking notes, but he was also doodling on his paper – a sure sign of relaxation.

When the bell rang an hour and a half later, Shawn was more than ready to get up and walk around. He was a little stiff from running laps without stretching and warming up first, and he could use the chance to work out those sore leg muscles.

"Mr. Adams, a word if you would," Lieutenant Rett said as he dismissed the others to their next class. River and a few of the others looked over at him, curiously, and Shawn nodded.

"Want me to wait?" River asked.

"Nah. Just save me a seat."

Shawn worked his way against the throng of bigger cadets all heading for the door, and came down to stand in front of Lieutenant Rett, who was a twenty-seven year old with a build like a prizefighter. The Lieutenant waited until the last of the students had filed out, then looked down at him.

"Bit of trouble on the parade ground this morning?"

Shawn shrugged, and realized that wasn't going to be good enough of an answer for the Lieutenant. It'd work with his mother, but not here.

"No, Sir... just... a misunderstanding."

"One you dealt with fairly easily, from what I hear."

Shawn nodded, feeling as if he'd been caught doing something wrong.

"It wasn't serious, sir." He said. "Just blowing off some steam, I guess."

"We prefer the cadets here don't blow off steam on _each other_, Adams."

"Yes, Sir."

Rett shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face.

"We don't like our cadets to allow themselves to be pushed around, either, though." The lieutenant said. "So if there are anymore... _misunderstandings_... feel free to deal with them. Just remember that there will always be a consequence for your actions."

"Yes, Sir."

"You're dismissed to your next class."

"Yes, Sir."

Shawn turned and headed out the door, and almost ran into River and the rest of the platoon – sans Brooks, who he could see heading down the hall already.

"Did you get in trouble?"

Shawn shook his head.

"He just asked me about what happened earlier."

"He should have asked _Brooks_," Eric Wells said. Eric was a slender black man, who Shawn now knew was from Ellensburg, Washington. "_He's_ the one that started it."

"Or me," River said as the group started down the hall. "I was just as guilty as you were. Probably more so."

Shawn shrugged.

"It's no big deal. I didn't get into trouble, I just got a warning."

"I still should have gotten one, too..."

"I'll share it with you next time," Shawn promised.

The others smiled, and a few minutes later filed in to their next class – Biology. Brooks was already sitting in a seat, and the rest of the platoon walked over and arranged themselves in the chairs around him. He looked almost surprised that they didn't force him to move by sitting somewhere else, but he didn't say anything and neither did Shawn or River. They and the rest of the class were all attentive as the instructor called them to order and then began to outline his own syllabus.

Again, this wasn't going to be a tough class for Shawn. Genetics was pretty easy for him, and biology wasn't as hard as Genetics. Of course, the classes would get tougher as the year went on, but for now he'd be fine. Obviously, he wasn't the only one thinking this, since when the bell rang and they were dismissed to the lunchroom, River made a relieved noise as they were clearing out of the classroom.

"This doesn't seem to be as bad as I thought it was going to be," he told them.

Shawn nodded, and the motion was echoed by several others in the platoon – all of whom were still together, since Brooks – who was the only who showed a preference to be away from the group – hadn't managed to find a clear area to escape the group through.

"It's going to get harder..." One of the others warned. "My friend looked it up on the Internet, and she said it was hard."

"Doesn't seem too hard so far." Said Eric, shrugging. Shawn nodded his agreement.

"It'll get harder," Brooks agreed. "Don't kid yourselves. Half of you are going to wash out the first year."

"Well, thank you _Mr. Positive_," River growled, throwing Ian a look that plainly said he'd be better off to keep his mouth shut. River wasn't the only one to scowl at Brooks. The rest of the platoon looked as if they'd rather he'd have made his escape and left them alone with their conversation.

"Hey, I'm _just_ telling you the way it-"

"Why don't you shut the hell up?"

Ian colored, and scowled.

"Why don't you make me, _Stream_?"

River rolled his eyes. "Oh, _yeah_... I've _never_ heard that one before... gee, thanks for being so freaking clever... _Brooks." _He stepped up to the other cadet, and Shawn wasn't the only one to step between the two before something could happen. Eric rested his hand against Brooks' chest, and Shawn and Theresa did the same to River.

"Easy, you guys..." Shawn said. "_I've_ already had one warning today. I don't want to set a school record my first day of class."

"Stay away from me, Hayden," Brooks warned, pushing Eric away from him. "You're asking for it."

"You going to give it to me?"

"I'd be glad to."

"Yeah? Bring it-"

"What do we have here?"

They all turned at the sound of the cool voice, and Shawn wasn't the only cadet to groan inwardly. The Lieutenant Colonel was walking towards them, his sharp gaze resting on the small cluster of students that were standing still in a hall that was otherwise filled with bustling people.

"_Shit_..."


	6. 06

"Why do I get the feeling there's a problem between you three?" The Lt. Colonel asked as he walked over to address the group. He was standing in front of the entire platoon, but his eyes were on River, Shawn and Ian. The three swallowed, and looked at each other, then at the Colonel once more. The Colonel looked at Shawn.

"Mr. Adams?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, Sir."

"Mr. Hayden?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"How about you? Any problem?"

River hesitated, debating whether the question demanded the truth – since there was _obviously_ a problem – or a lie that the Colonel probably wanted to hear. He was an honest young man, though, and he shrugged.

"Nothing we can't resolve, Sir."

"Mr. Brooks?"

"Sir?"

"Is there a problem?"

Brooks hesitated as well, but he seemed to find that River's answer was a fair one.

"We can resolve it, Sir. It's nothing serious."

"It's sprung up twice in one morning," The Colonel observed, dryly. "Obviously, it _is_ something serious." He pointed at the three of them one at a time. "You three, be in my office in five minutes. The rest of you are excused to your meal." He walked off, leaving the cadets staring at him.

"Son of a _bitch_..." River turned to Ian. "Thanks a lot, asshole."

"What did _I_ do?"

"_It's nothing serious, Sir_...?" He mimicked Brooks' voice perfectly. "Are you _always_ this stupid? Or is it just a special occasion? You _don't_ tell someone a problem isn't serious – because then they know the problem is. God, what a _moron_."

"Fuck you, Hayden. _You_ weren't any more help."

"We'd better get to the Colonel's office," Shawn said, interrupting before they could start arguing again. "We've only got five minutes."

Ian glared at Shawn, and then at River for another moment, but he nodded, and turned without another word. River rolled his eyes and shook his head, then motioned for Shawn to follow him.

"Good luck..." Eric said, softly as the rest of the platoon turned and headed for lunch.

"Thanks."

The Colonel's office was a lot different from Jack's office, Shawn noticed. Despite being nervous that he was going to be the youngest person ever booted out of the Air Force academy on the first day of classes. This office actually looked used. Jack's office looked brand new, because he rarely did anything in it. Except the leg of his desk where Jaffer had chewed it once when he was a puppy. There were stacks of papers on the Colonel's desk, and his in box was empty and his out box was full. Jack's was usually the opposite.

The Colonel had taken his seat in his chair behind the desk, and in front of him on the solid piece of furniture were three files. Shawn saw that top one had River's picture on it. He was pretty sure the others would have his and Ian's. The Colonel left them to stew in their own nervousness for a long moment, standing them at attention in front of his desk while he perused the three files in front of him.

"Ian Michael Brooks..." he finally said, reading, and not looking up. "Newark, New Jersey. Graduated from Fillard High, top 10 percent of your class with honors in every subject you took."

There was a silence, and the Colonel looked up at Ian, who realized that that had been a question of sorts. He straightened even further, if that was possible, and nodded.

"Yes, Sir."

"River Chatfield Hayden..." River glowered when he saw the partial smile form on Ian's face at the reading of his entire name, but the smile faded immediately when the Colonel scowled at Brooks. He wasn't amused, and Ian straightened to attention once more while the Colonel went back to his reading. "San Diego, California. Perfect SAT scores, top in your class, Mensa candidate."

River nodded.

"Yes, Sir."

The Colonel gave the blonde cadet a look Shawn couldn't decipher, and then looked down at his files once more.

"Shawn Lincoln Adams... Colorado Springs, Colorado. Graduated from Ronald Reagan High at 13. Perfect SAT scores and a Presidential order admitting you to the academy."

"Yes, Sir."

The Colonel nodded, folding his hands on the desk in front of him.

"The three of you are _brilliant_ young men. Certainly as smart as anyone on this campus – maybe even including some of the instructors..." He paused, but none of them dared say a word – and they certainly weren't going to agree with him aloud. He slammed his hand down on the desk, and River and Ian both flinched. Shawn was pretty much used to sudden outbursts and had long since gotten over such things. Very little could startle him – not after years of being near Jack, who had a temper that the Lt. Colonel would never be able to match.

"Three brilliant young men, who are too _stupid_ to realize that if they can't control themselves, they'll _never_ be able to control others. An integral part of becoming an officer and a gentleman."

The three of them were still silent, but the Colonel wasn't waiting for an explanation from any of them. "It usually takes weeks for cadets to decide who they don't like – and yet, I think the three of you have found yours in only a morning. Very impressive." His tone made sure that despite his words, the cadets would know he was anything but impressed.

"We have a solution, though. A solution that should _resolve_ this problem efficiently and effectively."

The three were still silent, each of them wondering if that solution included expelling them. Shawn felt his heart drop to his shoes. What would his parents say? God, what would _Jack_ say? How would he ever explain this?

"Cadet Brooks."

"Yes, Sir."

"Upon being dismissed, you will proceed directly to your room, where you will gather your things and take them to the room that Cadet Hayden and Cadet Adams share."

"Sir?"

"That was an _order_, Mister. In the military when a soldier is given an order he responds in one manner. '_Yes, Sir'_."

Brooks stiffened to attention once more.

"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir."

"The three of you will be sharing a room from now until I say otherwise. You will attend all your classes and physical activities with your platoon, but you will remain in your room during any free time until further notice. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Yes, Sir."

"Yes, Sir."

All of them understood, but it was obvious to Shawn that River and Ian both detested the idea. Shawn was just grateful he wasn't being expelled.

"Another bunk is being placed in the room. It'll cut down on your free space, but at least it'll be nice and cozy." The Colonel gave them all a serious look. "And I intend for it to _stay_ cozy. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Adams, Hayden. You are excused to your room. When Cadet Brooks arrives with his gear, you will all go to lunch together."

"Yes, Sir."

Shawn and River both turned and exited the room, followed only a moment later by Ian when the Colonel excused him. River didn't say a word as they walked down the hallway, but to judge by the thunderous look on his face, Shawn was pretty sure his roommate would have preferred to have Satan himself moving in with them. Shawn wasn't sure about Satan... but he knew that this wasn't going to be fun.


	7. 07

When they arrived at their room, they saw that the third bunk hadn't been simply placed in the room; it had been put on one of the other beds to form bunk beds. The room really wasn't big enough for a third bed on the floor, so it was really all that made sense. Unfortunately, it had been put over _River's_ bed, and he made a rude noise – although he waited until the door was closed before he did it.

"Well, great..." He tossed his Physics and Biology books onto his bed and sighed. "Just my luck, he'll be a bed-wetter."

Shawn smiled, despite the fact that he wasn't all that pleased with the situation, either.

"I think you'll be okay."

"This is bullshit, Shawn." River complained, sitting down on his bed and promptly hitting his head on the bunk above it. "Damn it."

"We'll have to pad that."

Silently, Shawn was thinking that before all this was over the _walls_ in his room would probably all be padded. He was pretty sure they were going to make him go crazy.

"_We_ shouldn't have-"

River was interrupted by a knock on the door, and before either of them could open it, Ian opened it and walked in, carrying a handful of stuff and dragging his bags. Shawn walked over and took the top layer of things from him before he could tell him not to, and set them on the top bunk. From the look on his face, the idea of rooming with Shawn and River hadn't grown on him on the way there.

"I have to sleep over _you_?" He asked River with a scowl.

"Hey, you _are_ a genius, aren't you?" River said, sarcastically. "I'm sitting on the bed, aren't I? It's a pretty fair indication that I'm the one who sleeps in it."

"Fuck you, Hayden." He looked over at Shawn, who had gone over to sit on his bed.

"You want to trade bunks?"

"Not especially."

"Come on, we'll put a rail on it so you don't fall off."

Shawn frowned, and started to make a comment that would probably get Ian pretty pissed off at him, but River once more beat him to it.

"Brooks, you'd better apologize before I kick your ass. I'm already tired of you making your snide little comments about Shawn's age."

"What'd I say?" Ian asked, raising his hands innocently. "I just didn't want him to say no because he was afraid of falling off. You mind your own business, _Chatfield_, or I'll toss you out the window."

Since the window was probably too small for _Shawn_ to fit through, there was very little chance Ian would be able to shove River through it.

"Go to hell."

"I'm already there, dip-shit." He gestured around the room. Then he saw the photo that Shawn had put up on the stand by his bunk, and paused. Shawn looked over to see what he was looking at and so did River. It was a photo of Shawn, sitting on a park bench posing with Jack, Sam and Jaffer. Teal'c had taken it, and Daniel had been standing beside the Jaffa doing his very best to make Jack smile, which explained the shit-eating grin on O'Neill's face.

"Is that your dog?" He asked Shawn.

"No."

Ian crossed the room and picked up the photo.

"Your mom's pretty hot."

Shawn took the photo from him, scowling. is own temper was pretty close to boiling at the moment.

"She's not my mom, Brooks. And if you say another word about her, I'm going to throw _you_ out that window."

"She's with your _dad_." Ian ignored the threat, and the flash of anger in Shawn's eyes. "Is she his secretary?" Brooks had noticed the similarity between Shawn and Jack easily, and had made an honest assumption. "Who's dog is that?"

Shawn ignored the questions, and put the photo back down.

"You can put your stuff in the closet."

"Fuck you, Adams. _You're_ not my boss, either."

"That's it," River lurched to his feet, intent on beating the shit out of Ian Brooks, and whacked his head yet again on the bunk above his, this time catching the sharp edge of the frame. A nasty gash opened instantly, and the blood started to flow.

"Shit!" River put his hand to his forehead, smearing the blood that was already trailing down his cheek, but managing to staunch the flow a little. Shawn grabbed his washcloth – which had been sitting on his bed with his bathroom kit and towel – and handed it to River.

"Use that, River."

The bleeding cadet took it, and Shawn told him to sit down and he pressed his hand over River's, making sure his friend was using enough pressure. Then he looked over at Brooks, who was grinning.

"It's _not_ funny, you piece of shit." He tossed a hand towel at Brooks. "Go wet that down and bring it back to me, and then we'll take him to the infirmary."

"Fuck you, Adams." Ian dropped the cloth. "I'm not your slave. You want it wet, you go wet it down."

"You bastard," River said, his voice slightly muffled because his arm was in front of his mouth. "I'm going to kick your ass."

"You can't even get out of bed without hurting yourself," Ian said, laughing, and flipping River the bird.

Shawn had had enough. He turned from where he'd been pressing against River's hand, and grabbed the extended finger in a vice-like grip, pulling down and in – hard. The finger bent backward at an angle that would certainly have broken it if Ian hadn't dropped to his knees following the momentum.

"Ow! Let me _go_ you little bastard!" He struck at Shawn with his free hand, aiming by necessity someplace low. Shawn brought his other hand in to block the punch and grabbed Ian's nose between his finger and thumb. There was no way he'd ever hit someone he already had down. The other cadet started to struggle free, but Shawn tightened his grip – both on Ian's middle finger and on his nose.

"Stop it!" His voice was rough and filled with pain and anger and he brought his hand up to grab at Shawn, but the young man moved a little to the side and tightened his grip even further.

"Hold still, or I'll break both of them, I swear."

Ian stopped struggling, fighting back another curse and trying very hard to ignore the fact that his eyes were stinging with tears of pain. The nose grip was killing him.

"Knock it off, God _damn_ it! Let me go!"

"I'll let you go... then you're going to take that towel, and you're going to go get it wet and bring it back to me. Then you're going to help me get River to the infirmary. Understand?"

"Fuck you!"

"I can get to the infirmary without _his_ help, Shawn," River said, his own voice filled with pain, too. "I doubt shit for brains even knows _where_ it is."

"Go to hell, Hayden!"

"Fuck you."

"You're-"

"Knock it off, both of you!" Shawn's voice interrupted their yelling, and he tightened the grip he'd started to relax. Brooks grunted with pain. He looked down at Ian. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Fine! I'll help you. Let me go!"

Shawn let him go and stepped back, arms at his side, but more than ready to defend himself if Brooks came at him. The New Yorker got to his feet, holding his nose with one hand and shaking the other hand, looking at his finger to make sure it wasn't broken.

"_Jesus_, Adams..." He reached down and picked up the towel he'd dropped only a moment before. "You-"

"Go wet it down," Shawn interrupted.

"I ought to just go out in the hall and piss on it."

"Get going," Shawn said, turning his back on Brooks and pressing his hand once more against the towel River was holding. The wound really was bleeding badly. Of course, Shawn knew that head injuries always did, anyways, but it was still probably serious.

Brooks looked like he was going to say something else, but he shrugged, and looked at all the blood on the washcloth River and Shawn were holding. Without a word, he left the room, and headed down the hall for the shared bathroom.

"Fucking little bully..."


	8. 08

_Author's note: Yeah, the language is pretty bad, but it'll ease up eventually - maybe. Just so you all know, I'm done moving - except for some unpacking that I'm slacking off on - so I'll be updating a little more frequently. I hope_

With one of them on either side of him, River was helped to the infirmary about five minutes later. Pressed against his still bleeding forehead was a soaking wet hand towel, and he was a little light-headed, but he was only leaning any weight on Shawn, refusing stubbornly to accept any more help from Ian than he had to. Of course, Ian had his hand tangled in the other cadet's uniform, holding him upright – and using the hand that Shawn hadn't grabbed.

"What happened to you?" The campus' head doctor asked. She was a Captain, and well aware of the fact that young men thrown together into a school sometimes didn't get along all that well and sometimes resorted to blows. This looked like such a case, until the blonde moved the towel and she saw that the gash on his head was not caused by a fist. It had definitely been something metal.

"He hit his head on the bottom of the bunk," Shawn said, answering for River, who was being helped onto an examination table.

The doctor frowned.

"What was he doing on the floor?"

"Bunk bed," Shawn clarified. "He was sitting on the bottom of a bunk bed."

She nodded, glancing at the youngest cadet. She'd heard of him, of course. Shawn Adams, young genius and all around interesting topic for discussion. Janet Fraiser – who happened to be a very close friend of the Captain's – hadn't really told her as much as she wanted to know, but she'd said that Shawn was definitely someone to watch and that he was the son of someone very close to her. Although she wouldn't say who. And when the Captain had mentioned he'd probably be bullied by the older cadets, Janet Fraiser had simply smiled and shaken her head.

"I doubt it."

She wouldn't say anything else, and the Captain had known better than to try and wheedle it out of her. Fraiser kept a secret better than anyone.

"It'll need stitches," The Captain decided as she used the wet towel to clean the blood from around the gash. She looked down at River, who was fairly pale.

"Are you feeling light headed?"

"A little. Mostly dizzy."

"Nauseous?"

River shook his head, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"No. Just a little dizzy."

"Good."

She looked over at Shawn and Ian.

"You two can wait for him out in the hall."

"Yes, Ma'am."

They both turned and left, and Shawn closed the door behind them.

"Let's go get lunch," Ian said.

"We were told to wait for him out here." Shawn said.

"She didn't _order_ us to wait, she probably just thought we were waiting to see how he was doing."

"Well, _I am_ waiting to see how he's doing," Shawn told him. "Besides, we were told we had to go to lunch _together_, remember?"

Brooks scowled.

"The Colonel didn't know Hayden was going to try and knock himself out when he gave that order, Adams. This is an _extenuating_ circumstance... I'm sure he doesn't expect us to stand out here all afternoon while the Captain keeps Hayden's brains from sliding out his head."

"I'm staying."

"Come _on_, Adams! I'm hungry."

"No."

"God... what _is_ it with you?"

"I'm doing what I'm told without complaining," Shawn said, just this side of being pissed off. "Why don't you try it sometime?"

"Fuck you, Adams."

Shawn snorted.

"'Fuck you Adams'... 'fuck you, Hayden'... Fuck, fuck, fuck... is that all they teach you in New York? How to make yourself sound like an illiterate peasant?"

"Shut up."

Since Shawn had already said what he wanted to say, he did what Brooks said, but even though he fell silent, Ian looked over at him, scowling again.

"Why are you _here_, Adams? Why aren't you at MIT or wherever it is that kid geniuses go when they graduate at ten?"

Shawn glanced over at him, debated whether he was actually curious or not, and decided that there wasn't anything behind the question, so he answered it honestly.

"I'm here because a lot of the adults I know are in the Air Force, and I respect them and want to be like them."

"I'd have went to MIT, if I were you. There's a lot more money in that kind of thing. R&D, Theoretical Sciences, shit like that... companies are paying a lot of money for people to do that stuff for them."

"Why didn't _you_ go to MIT, then?" Shawn asked.

Brooks scowled.

"Because my _dad_ went here, and he damned well wasn't going to let his son go anywhere else. I'm keeping up the _family tradition_..." The way he said it, though, Ian wasn't nearly as happy about keeping up the family tradition as Shawn was.

"So you're being an asshole to everyone around you because you're mad at your dad?"

"Fuck you-"He cut himself off, and scowled. "Go to hell, Adams."

Shawn grinned, despite himself, and Ian couldn't help but find the humor in that, as well. Although he didn't smile, his frown lessened a little.

"I'm not being an asshole to anyone, and don't try and psychoanalyze me. I'm unanalyzable."

"That's not a word."

"Yes, it is."

"_Unanalyzable_?" Shawn shook his head. "No, it isn't." He knew.

"It is."

"Look it up." Shawn told him.

"Fuc- no."

Shawn shrugged.

"I'm a genius, remember? Trust me on this one, it's not a word."

"It's a _New York_ word," Ian told him. "Have _you_ been to New York?"

Shawn shook his head.

"_Everyone_ in New York uses that word, smart ass. So what do you think of that?"

"I stand corrected."

"Bet your little ass you do." Brooks said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall, obviously forgetting about the fact that he was hungry and wanted to go to lunch, and didn't care whether River was going to be okay or not.

Shawn didn't say anything, he just leaned back against the wall, too, and waited.


	9. 09

"Why am I suddenly concerned to find you two standing outside the infirmary?"

Both of them looked over and saw the Lt. Colonel walking towards them. Both Shawn and Ian straightened to attention as he approached.

"Where's cadet Hayden?"

"He's in with the Captain – Doctor – Colonel." Shawn said.

"What happened to him?"

"He hit his head, Sir." Brooks said.

"_He_ hit his head?" The Colonel repeated, obviously not enjoying the timing of such an accident. "How did he manage that?"

"On the bottom of the bunk, Sir."

"Why was he on the floor?"

"The bottom of the bunk bed, Sir," Ian clarified. "He was sitting on the bed and stood up too quickly and hit the edge of the bed frame."

"I see."

Well, _that_ wasn't too bad. Better than if he'd been in a fight with one of the other boys. From the looks of them, Adams and Brooks were both healthy and hale with no indications that they'd been in any kind of a scuffle.

"Stay here."

"Yes, Sir."

The Colonel vanished into the infirmary and closed the door behind him.

"He's probably looking for a reason to expel us," Ian said, softly, once the door was closed.

Shawn shrugged, but he didn't have a chance to say anything. The Colonel opened the door almost immediately and beckoned the two of them into the room.

River was still in the same place he'd been when they left, but the blood on his forehead was cleaned off completely, and the gash had been closed by a neat row of stitches. The Captain was just starting to cover the stitches with a couple of butterfly bandages.

"Cadet Hayden is going to be confined to his quarters the rest of the day for medical purposes," the Colonel told the two once they'd come to a halt by the examination bed. "The two of you are the lucky ones who get to keep him company."

"If he starts feeling sick, or if you think he doesn't look right, I want one of you to come get me," the doctor told them.

"Yes, Ma'am."

If Brooks had any problem playing nurse to River for the rest of the day – and Shawn was sure he did – he was wisely keeping it to himself with the Colonel and the Captain both standing there.

"Take him to your room. He doesn't have to stay in bed, but he does have to stay inactive, so one of you can bring him lunch."

"You are all three authorized to eat your lunch and dinner in the dorms," the Colonel told them. Normally food wasn't allowed in the rooms.

"Yes, Sir."

The doctor had finished the bandages, and stepped to the side.

"He's all yours, men."

Shawn and Ian stepped up and each of them took a hand and pulled River to his feet. The blonde cadet scowled at the need to be helped – he wasn't _dying_, after all – but the scowl hurt his head so he stopped immediately. He put one hand on Shawn's shoulder, and ignored Brooks' hand, and the three of them left the room.

"Those three are going to _kill_ each other."

The Colonel laughed and turned to the doctor, who was cleaning up the bloody mess made by River's abrupt introduction to his bed.

"Or they'll make _exactly_ the kind of officers the Air Force needs, Doctor."

She snorted, and waved him away.

"Are _you_ sick?"

"No."

"Then get out of my infirmary so I can get it cleaned up and go eat."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He laughed again, more than willing to be booted out of the infirmary. He hated hospitals. Even small, unofficial ones. But he liked the staff, and while he wouldn't admit it – even to himself – he might have had a slight crush on a certain high-ranking member of the staff there.

"How's the head?" Shawn asked.

"It's numb. She gave me a shot. It only hurts when I move it too much."

"You're going to have a wicked scar."

River grinned.

"Maybe it'll impress the girls."

"Oh, yes," Ian sneered. "Look at me, baby, I can't get out of _bed_ without cracking my head open. Come to me..."

"Stick it up-"

"Hey!" Shawn interrupted the rejoined before River could say it. "We're going to be stuck together for the rest of the day, why don't you guys try to keep from each other's throats? At least long enough for me to get something to eat?"

"_He_ started it," River said, glaring at Brooks.

"I just made a valid point about your inability to get out of bed." Ian said innocently. "It's not my fault you're so insecure that you read it as an insult."

"I-"

"River, just hush for a bit, okay?"

"What did I say?" The blonde cadet asked.

"He's right; you're going to have to come up with a better story to tell people who don't know the truth."

"See?"

River scowled.

"How did you get the scar on your forehead, Shawn?"

Shawn's free hand went to the thin white line that ran above his eye.

"Plane crash."

That was true, more or less.

"_Bullshit_." Ian scoffed.

"Really?" River asked.

Shawn nodded.

"Did you hit it on the seat in front of you?"

"I hit it on the front panel."

"You were in the cockpit?" Ian asked.

Shawn nodded.

"I was flying the plane."

"You can fly?" River asked, amazed to learn something new about Shawn – especially something so interesting.

"Obviously _not_," Ian drawled. "Otherwise he wouldn't have crashed the plane, right?"

River laughed, and so did Ian.

Shawn scowled, but he wasn't _nearly_ as annoyed as he looked. It occurred to him that this was the first time the two older cadets had shared a laugh, and he decided there might be hope for them, yet. Even if the laughter was at his expense.

"Tell us the story," Brooks ordered as they reached their room.

"Nah..."

"Come _on_..." River pleaded. It had to be good if Shawn didn't want to tell it!

"Maybe after lunch. If you don't kill each other, first."

He couldn't tell them the _real_ story, of course, but Jack and Sam had been teaching Shawn to fly small craft, so he'd improvise.

"Awwww, come on...." Ian wheedled, too.

Shawn laughed, and shook his head.

"Okay, I'll tell it while we're eating. But first we have to get some lunch. River, we'll go get enough for all of us, you try not to die before we get back, okay?"

"Yeah. Stay away from your bed, Hayden. It's dangerous."

"You can _both_ kiss my ass," River said, settling himself carefully on his bunk, but this time he didn't mean it, and they all knew it. "I want _steak_, and I want it just this side of mooing."

"You'll get soup, or whatever else we decide to bring you." Shawn told him, ducking as River tossed his pillow at him.

"Come on, Adams," Ian said as he crossed the room and opened the door. "You can tell me the story on the way..."

"You'd better not, Shawn!"

Shawn tossed River's pillow back at him. "I won't tell him anything." He promised.

"Yes, you will," Brooks called from the hall. "I'm bigger than you, remember?"

River laughed again. Yeah, that was true... of course; they all knew Shawn had proven himself quite capable of dealing with Brooks, so _that_ wasn't much of a threat.

"Fuck you, Hayden," Ian called, after making sure there were no other people in the hall to hear him – except Shawn, who just rolled his eyes. "Hey, it's a _habit_, what can I say?" Brooks said, defensively.

"Let me guess... _everyone_ in New York says it?"

"Something like that..." Ian grinned, and the two of them went to the cafeteria.


	10. 10

At the same time that Shawn and his roommates were finally making progress towards civility, a pair of small spacecraft were entering the Earth's atmosphere. They were small, one man ships that were sturdy and sleek and in the pre-Stargate days on Earth, they would have landed completely unnoticed by anyone. Now, however, with the advancements that they'd made in radar and tracking, NORAD caught sight of the objects as they entered orbit, and tracked them as they came down.

The first thought was that they were too small to be ships. Falling space debris was the most popular theory. Or maybe a couple of satellites or meteors. But the symmetry of the landings was too perfect. They fell together, and presumably landed together. The call went out, and teams of investigators were sent out to check on it less than an hour after the first call had come through.

The ships had been well hidden, but the occupants obviously hadn't been aware of the ability of the humans to track radiation emissions and other gases – or they hadn't cared. Which was entirely possible. The teams found them easily, and wearing hazmat suits, they swarmed all over the ships, opening them up and finding them to be single man ships that were stripped down to bare bones indeed. All they found inside was a hologram type machine, displaying the image of a young human male that none of the members of either team recognized. He was brown-haired, and brown-eyed, and aside from a pale scar that ran above his right eye, he looked perfectly normal to them. Of course, he couldn't be all that normal if a spaceship had a picture of him, and the teams knew it. Taking the machine with them, they carried the puzzle back to NORAD, where a completely different group of people tried to figure out who this was – if anyone.

&&

"Are you certain you'll be able to find this place, Kuy?" The voice was harsh and deep, but if anyone had been close by, they wouldn't have been able to see the person who was speaking. Of course, the one he was speaking to could, but that was because he was inside the same cloaking shield at that moment, and the two Ashrak had no trouble seeing each other. It would have been impossible to carry out the mission they'd been sent on if they couldn't see each other, after all.

"I can find the _boy_."

The speaker touched a tracking device that he was holding in one hand. In the other was a vicious weapon that looked vaguely gun-like, with a far larger barrel than any gun found on Earth.

"Will it work here?" The other Ashrak looked around him; this was the craziest looking planet he'd ever been on, and he was nervous. If not for the cloaking devices, he'd never have left his ship – no matter how much they were being offered to kill the boy.

"It should. We have his DNA sample, and it'll track him just fine with it."

"This place is vile..."

"You're not settling here, Ler, and I don't intend to stick around too long once we kill the boy. Just avoid running into anyone or anything and we'll be fine."

He looked down at his machine. They'd landed in a small field surrounded by rocky hills, and it took them a few moments to get their bearings, but eventually the machine started blinking, and pointing them in the right direction.

"He's this way... let's go," Kuy said, heading out and leaving Ler to follow him.

&&

"Did I get steak?"

"No. You got sandwiches and potato salad, just like the rest of us."

"I ordered a steak."

"Go get it yourself."

"The Colonel said you guys had to be nice to me..."

Shawn smiled and handed the tray over that they'd brought River's food in on. Ian was carrying the heavier one that was holding his and Shawn's lunches.

"He did not."

"Yes, he did."

"He said we had to bring you lunch, stitch-head," Brooks said, putting the tray he was holding down on Shawn's desk. "We even brought you a glass of milk."

"It's close to a steak," Shawn said.

River scowled, "How is a glass of milk close to a steak?"

"We reasoned it out that they both come from cows, so they must be related... like pork chops and bacon..." Ian told him. The New Yorker was making a concerted effort to remain on speaking terms with River – more because he was already tired of arguing with the Californian. Stereotypes aside, Ian didn't like to argue, and he didn't like always being on the defensive. He didn't know what it was about the blonde cadet, but River just got under his skin most of the time – although he had a sneaking suspicion that if given half a chance, the guy would make a good friend. Look at the way he was always sticking up for Adams, after all.

"Pork chops and bacon are at least both _meat_," River grumbled, sitting up and taking the tray Shawn handed him and draping it across his lap. Since he was excused from any activities for the day, River had changed out of his uniform while the others were gone, and was now wearing a pair of brilliant red and green pajama bottoms, and no shirt. "Milk and steaks are way off..."

"Well, if you don't like it, go get it yourself," Shawn said. "Hopefully no one will mistake you for a Christmas tree and start decorating you."

Ian snorted. He'd wanted to make a comment about the pajamas but had been certain it would have started an argument. Luckily, Shawn wasn't so concerned.

"Hey, my _mom_ gave me these."

"Proving once and for all that she wanted you to get beat up at the Air Force academy," Ian told him, taking his plate from the tray and sitting down at the desk to eat.

"I love my mom."

"I love your mom, too."

River scowled, waiting to hear something that he could round on Ian for. That comment wasn't really enough, but he was certain Brooks had more to say than just that. The New Yorker turned to Shawn, though, surprising both of them.

"Okay, pipsqueak," he said – and this time it didn't sound quite so much like an insult – "Tell us about this plane you crashed."

River was instantly distracted from the mom comment, and he turned to Shawn as well.

"Yeah, Shawn. Do tell..."

Shawn took his plate and his glass over to his bed, sat the glass down on the stand by his bed next to his picture of him, Sam, Jack and Jaffer, and took a bite out of his sandwich. He had plenty of near misses with Jack, so it was just a matter of using one of those and actually allowing them to crash.

"It was three years ago, and I was just learning to fly..."


	11. 11

"What's wrong with you?"

Jack looked over at Daniel, frowning. Of course, he'd _been_ frowning when the younger man walked into his office, which had made Daniel ask the question in the first place, so it didn't even phase the archeologist.

"What?"

"You look like you have a headache, Jack," Daniel said as he walked over and sat down. He'd really just wanted to take a break from translations he was doing, and thought Jack would be a good distraction. He normally was, after all.

"Not a headache," Jack said, rubbing his forehead. "Just an ache..."

"In your head?"

"Yeah."

"Where I'm from, we call that a _headache_. Take some aspirin, it'll go away."

Jack scowled.

"It doesn't _really_ hurt, Daniel, and I already took some – nothing doing, and it's still there. It doesn't hurt, though. It just aches... like an old injury throbs sometimes on a cold morning..."

Daniel had enough scars that he knew what that felt like. He shrugged.

"Do I dare suggest you go talk to Janet about it?"

The frown deepened.

"There's nothing wrong with me. She'd just shine her light in my eyes and poke me with a needle."

Yup, that's what she'd do, that was for sure.

"Is it killing you?"

"No, just driving me nuts..."

He gestured over to Jaffer, who was sprawled on the leather sofa that was along the far wall. The black lab had an expression that almost matched Jack's. An intense look that plainly said something was distracting him. Of course, Daniel knew the lab and the Colonel well, and they were both easily distracted anyways. This was a little different, though.

"Maybe there's a noise you can't hear that's hurting your ears and giving you the headache," Daniel suggested.

"I thought about that," Jack said, surprising Daniel. "So we went with Sam up to the surface when she left for her meeting with Ogerman and Moore on that radar-looking thing, but it still hurt."

"Oggemen." Daniel corrected, absently.

"Whatever."

"You should go see Janet, then. Maybe it's something in the air."

"Do _you_ have a headache?"

"No, I feel fine."

"Then it's probably not something in the air."

Oh. Another good point.

"Well, then, I guess you have to live with it, huh?"

Jack scowled.

"Did you _need_ something, Daniel?"

"Just a distraction. Thanks."

Jack shook his head.

"Anytime."

"What are you guys doing for dinner tonight? Anything?"

"You'd have to ask Sam. I don't have any plans as far as I know. Why?"

"Sally wanted me to ask."

Jack looked at his watch. It was getting close to five, and time to leave – if he could find Sam and drag her away from the radar thing that SG-2 had wheedled out of a group of people living on PHW221. The eggheads from NORAD had been excited about it, but of course non of them had figured out how to use it yet, so eventually, they'd ended up calling in Sam to figure it out for them.

"I'm going to go find Sam. I'll ask her."

"You sure you're okay?" Daniel asked. The frown looked even more intense than before.

"Yeah."

"Let me know about dinner as soon as you can."

"I will."

Daniel left Jack's office and O'Neill looked over at Jaffer, who looked back at him.

"Let's go get Sam and go home. Maybe it's the lighting that's hurting my head."

Jaffer snorted, and followed Jack when he headed for the door.

&&

NORAD was an interesting complex of halls and offices and a couple large radar rooms. It also held a lot of laboratories, but Jack rarely went into them. The place was nowhere near as classified as the SGC was – no place on Earth was as classified as the SGC was – but there were still a fair number of armed guards roaming the place. None of them stopped Jack, though. He and Jaffer were well known, and with Jack in uniform there was no reason not to assume he had business there.

Which he did. More or less.

He walked into the lab that he'd left Sam in earlier, and saw she was still there, and was still talking to Lieutenant Oggemen, who was hunched over an odd-looking thingamajig that SG-2 had found a few days earlier. No one knew exactly what it was, but Sam suspected it was some kind of radar system, so they were all excited at NORAD, and had asked her to come figure it out for them.

She looked up when Jack and Jaffer walked into the lab, and smiled. Even with the headache – which he thought was getting worse – Jack couldn't help but smile back. God, she was so perfect.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked as Jack walked over with Jaffer beside him. The black lab wagged his tail and stuck his nose in Sam's hand, clearly asking for attention, which she was more than willing to give him.

"I have a headache."

"Still?"

He'd mentioned his head was aching earlier – sometime around lunch.

"Yeah. Are you about ready to go?"

Sam looked over at the Lieutenant, who shrugged. It was pretty obvious they weren't going to figure the device out that day, anyways, so she might as well leave.

"Yes, I'd say we-"

"Hey, Major Carter!"

Sam turned, and Jack scowled. Still fully half the people on the base called Sam Major Carter – even though she'd been Major O'Neill for all of three and a half weeks, now. Of course, the other day he'd called her 'Carter', too, so he was as guilty as the rest of them. But it was still annoying when someone forgot.

A couple of eggheads came into the lab, looking excited and puzzled at the same time. Jack sighed.

"We were wondering if you'd come take a look at this hologram device we pulled out of those two ships?"

"What two ships?" Jack asked, knowing he really didn't want to know the answer, but knowing he should be asking, since it was his job to know.

"A couple of one-man ships landed close by here today. They were empty, so we've pretty much decided they were on remote control or something," One of the scientists told Jack, who started rubbing his forehead. "There was a device on one, though, that's really interesting. It seems it's some kind of hologram that shows a-"

"Ehh!" Jack held his hand up to stop the man. He'd already heard more than he cared to hear. Find the guys running the remote controls and Jack would be interested. He didn't care about the toys left behind. He didn't feel like caring about anything just then.

Sam shook her head, sympathizing. Jack looked like he felt awful.

"I'll take a look at it tomorrow, Will," she told the scientist. "It's late, and I'm ready to go home."

The scientist nodded, although he was obviously disappointed. Jack turned and headed for the door, and Sam gave the young man a smile.

"You know where I live, right?"

Will nodded.

"Bring it over tonight, and I'll take a look." Sam had a fairly well equipped lab at the house, and she wasn't afraid to use it.

"Thanks, Major. What time?"

"Anytime after seven."

"I'll be there."

Sam turned and headed for the door, catching up to Jack easily, since he wasn't walking too quickly so she'd have a chance to catch up.

"You feeling okay?"

"Just my head..."

"Did you eat?"

"No."

"Well, we'll get you home, and you can take a nap while I make dinner. Maybe that'll help get rid of the headache."

"Daniel wants to know if we want to have dinner with him and Sally."

"I don't think you'd make very good company."

"No."

"I'll call when we get home."

"Thanks, Sam."

She smiled, and slid her arm around his waist as they walked out into the sunlight and headed for the truck.


	12. 12

_Author's note: Sorry guys. Night time seems to be the only time I can get any writing done lately... busy busy busy!_

The afternoon passed far quicker and more smoothly than Shawn ever could have believed it would. After Shawn finished telling River and Ian about the plane crash, he'd told the other two they needed to tell him something else about them, and the conversation had turned to families.

River had pulled out a picture of his family. His mom and dad looked exactly like him; both blonde and deeply tanned, and posing in front of a lighthouse at a beautiful white sand beach with a small army of females around them.

"What do they do?"

"My dad's a professional surfer. My mom is his manager."

Which explained their tans. They were probably out in the sun all the time.

"These are your sisters?" Ian asked, taking the picture from River.

"Yup. Six sisters, all younger than me."

"They're cute."

River scowled, and Shawn decided it was a typical brother reaction. He had to admit; he thought they were cute, too. They were all blonde and tanned, ranging from probably 17 to a toddler who was clinging to River's mother's hand and holding a little bright red plastic shovel.

"They're a pain in the ass."

The way he said it, though, made Shawn smile, and Ian smirk. It was obvious he didn't mean it. River noticed, and the scowl deepened.

"They are! You try finding time in the bathroom with all those girls."

"I believe you," Ian told him. Clearly, though, he didn't.

"What do your folks do, Ian?" Shawn asked as he stacked the dishes from their lunch. They should have taken them to the kitchens a long time ago, but he and Ian had decided they'd just wait until dinner, and do it then.

"My dad's retired Air Force. He's a fire inspector, now. My mom's a dancer."

"A _dancer_?" River's eyes widened, and he grinned. It was Ian's turn to scowl.

"There's nothing wrong with dancing." He said, defensively.

"Can _you_ dance?"

"Of course I can."

"Prove it."

"No chance in hell."

River grinned again.

"Hey," Ian said, still defensive. "Girls love it when a guy can dance."

"Who told you that?"

"No one. They _do_, though."

"He's right," Shawn agreed. "Girls like dancing."

Ian looked gratified at the backup, and River looked over at Shawn in surprise.

"Can _you_ dance?"

"Of course I can."

"Let me guess; your mom's a dancer, too."

"Nope. But my... friend Gina's mom is a dance instructor. She taught Sam, and Sam taught me."

"Who's Sam?" They both asked.

Shawn pointed at the picture on the stand by his bed.

"Samantha Carter – well, _O'Neill_, now. She and Jack just got married."

"Jack's this guy?" Ian asked, pointing at the picture as well.

Shawn nodded.

"I thought he was your-"

"Why does that name sound familiar?" River interrupted.

"Jack?"

"No. Samantha Carter. I swear I've heard it somewhere."

"Her name is plastered all over the honor board in the hall," Shawn said, unable to hide his pride in the fact. "Sam went to school here."

"That's where it was," River agreed, reaching over and taking the picture from Ian. "She's some serious kind of genius, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"What's she doing now?"

"Deep space telemetry."

"See, Adams? That's why you go to MIT or someplace like that. The military, in their infinite wisdom, is completely wasting the talents of a resident genius on something as lame as telemetry, when she could be working on finding the cure for cancer or something."

Shawn grinned.

"Sam's work is important."

"Uh huh." Ian didn't sound convinced.

"What are you planning on doing in the Air Force, Brooks?" River asked, wondering why someone who thought so little of the military was even in it in the first place.

Ian shrugged.

"I'll just find some people to boss around, I guess. Maybe run Area 51." He smirked. "That'd be a hoot. Maybe I'll find out who shot Kennedy. It was probably aliens."

That changed their line of conversation from families to their prospective futures, and as the afternoon wore on and it started getting late, the talk continued, the three of them using their enforced idleness to get to know each other. While some of the conversation was a little sharp at times – usually when River or Ian shot their mouths off a little too much – most of it was civil enough. Shawn found himself enjoying it, although he tended to steer the topic away from himself as much as possible when it came to his family background. Not that he was ashamed of his family, he just didn't want to have to lie to his friends – and he was beginning to think of them as his friends – about his relationship with Jack. But he couldn't really tell them the truth, either. So he evaded that as well as he could.

And so the day went, and evening came.

&&

"Jack?"

O'Neill opened his eyes, groggily, looking around. Sam was crouched in front of him, one hand resting on Jaffer – who had been sprawled on Jack while he slept – the other resting on Jack's shoulder. Jaffer opened his eyes when Sam touched him, but she noticed he didn't look like he felt all that well, either. When Jack opened his eyes, Sam smiled. Then he winced.

"Still hurts?" Sam asked, frowning.

"Yeah."

He rubbed his forehead, and Sam reached out and touched his face.

"You're not hot."

"I don't feel sick."

"You just have a headache..."

He nodded.

"Maybe we should call Janet? It might be something going around."

"Nah, it's probably just a migraine or something."

"You've never gotten them before..."

Jack shrugged.

"I'll call Janet and ask her."

"Okay."

He didn't really want her to, but he knew that it'd make Sam feel better if she talked to Fraiser, so he didn't argue. Didn't even pretend to argue. He really didn't feel like arguing anyways. Besides, maybe Janet knew something Jack didn't. Maybe there _was_ something going around.

He closed his eyes, and felt her brush a kiss against his forehead.

"I'll let you know what she says."

Jack nodded, already drifting off to sleep again, his hand on Jaffer's side.


	13. 13

_He felt the Presence even though he didn't open his eyes. His head hurt – even in his sleep, and opening his eyes would only make it hurt more. Besides, he didn't need his eyes. He could feel the power and love surrounding him – love he felt all the time, just not in such force – and knew even before he heard the voice that this was the being that was always with him._

_"Jack... Something's wrong."_

_"I know. My head is killing me."_

_"It shouldn't be, though. There's nothing wrong with you."_

_"There must be... Can't you fix it?"_

_"I can't, because I'm not sure what it is. Whatever it is, it's affecting me, too, and that's impossible. I need you to try and relax."_

_"My brains are trying to push out my ears."_

_There was gentle amusement._

_"Do your best." There was a hesitation that Jack felt, rather than saw. "I need to leave you for a moment... and when I do, the pain will grow worse."_

_He opened his eyes._

_"Leave me?"_

_Immediately there was reassurance; comfort and love surrounded him, holding him firmly before he could begin to worry._

_"Only for a short time. I won't be long, but I need to talk to someone, and I can't call her to me with my head pounding like it is, so I have to go to her."_

_"Can't I come?"_

_He was being petulant, and he knew it, but Jack had the sense that the presence had been with him so long and had become such an ingrained part of him that he didn't want it to leave him alone._

_"No. Relax, Jack... try to think of other things to take your mind off the pain. I'll be right back."_

_There was a sudden wrenching, and Jack gasped. Suddenly he felt an empty spot in the very center of himself. A spot he'd never felt before. A piece of him was missing, and the pain in his head suddenly flared beyond anything he'd felt before. He groaned, grasping at his forehead, and closed his eyes tightly, trying to think of anything besides the pain._

"Jack?"

Sam was suddenly worried. Far more worried than she had been. She'd watched as Jack had fallen asleep once more, holding Jaffer lightly, and then had gone to call Janet. Fraiser hadn't been much help. Jack's symptoms were the same as someone who was suffering from a migraine, she said. If he wasn't any better by morning, she'd have a look at him and maybe do an MRI or a CAT scan, but until then, all she could suggest was that Sam put a cool cloth over his head, and let him sleep.

So she had. She'd put the dinner she made into the fridge and covered him and Jaffer with a comforter, then had put a wet towel over Jack's forehead and eyes, hoping it would block out any light that might be irritating him. Then she'd settled in the chair that was normally Jaffer's – a very ragged, chewed up chair – and had tried to read a book while she watched him sleep.

Then he'd almost woken. He made a pained noise and then another, and his hand had went to his head, clutching at it.

"Jack?"

She ran her hand lightly over his, moving his gently out of the way so she could see if he were awake. His eyes were tightly closed, and there was a definite pained expression on his face. Sam knelt closer, and brushed a kiss against his cheek as he hand lightly stroked his face. She wasn't sure if he was awake, but she knew even if he wasn't he'd be able to feel what she was doing, and maybe it would help. Her fingers caressed his forehead, running along the same lines made by the pained expression, and she whispered lightly in his ear, soothing him as well as she could.

It seemed to work. His face relaxed a little, and his pained expression eased. The lines were still there, but not as pronounced. Sam continued what she was doing, debating whether or not to call Janet back. She didn't have much experience with migraines, so she didn't know if this was normal or not.

&&

Dotty Adams was sound asleep. She was in a hotel room, snuggled comfortably up against her husband. The two of them had left that very morning on a 4-day cruise – the first vacation the two of them had ever had alone. She hadn't planned on leaving until the next day, but Jack had asked that she let him drop Shawn off, and Dotty had agreed, knowing that this was almost as big a day for Jack as it was for Shawn. It was the beginning of his military future, after all. He'd soon be more a part of Jack's world than he was a part of Dotty's. So she'd agreed, and she and James had left for their cruise, arriving just in time to make the sailing of the earlier trip. The day of travel had left the two of them tired, and they'd gone straight to their room and had fallen asleep, not even watching the festivities as the boat set sail.

Suddenly though, she felt the same presence that Jack had felt, although she felt it in a different way, and she didn't feel anywhere near as much love as he felt when the being was with him.

_"What are you doing here? What's wrong?" Something had to be wrong, or he'd never have left Jack. She knew what it meant for him to distance himself as he had, and knew that he wouldn't casually do it._

_"I don't know. You tell me."_

_Dotty listened as he started to explain what was going on, but he'd no sooner started to describe the odd headache he and Jack were both suffering from when she stopped him._

_"Headache?"_

_"From out of nowhere," he confirmed._

_"Ashrak."_

_"What?"_

_"It's something I put into Jack's psyche after the incident with the assassins from the future. I wanted a warning if there were any more, and I knew Jack would be closer to Shawn than I am most of the time. If there's an Ashrak within a hundred miles of Jack, he'll know."_

_"In the form of a headache?"_

_"One that gets worse, the closer the Ashrak gets to Shawn."_

_"It's close to killing him already." There was a tone of disapproval in the voice. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"_

_"I put it on him while the two of you were recovering, and it slipped my mind with other things that came up..." Dotty was truly contrite, since she'd never kept a secret from him before, and hadn't meant to this time._

_"He can't function if he can't see straight."_

_"Once he knows the danger, the headache will fade... it's just a warning. A way to tell him that he can't ignore."_

_"He can't ignore it, that's for sure." Now the voice was dry. "I need to get back to him."_

_"The ashrak-"_

_"I'll let him know."_

_"How?"_

_"I'll tell him."_

_"You can't do that... he won't remember-"_

_"I'll take care of it." He didn't have time to argue with her. Every minute away from Jack was causing him pain. It would get worse as time passed. "They can't hide from me."_

_She nodded, and he was gone._

Dotty rolled over and shook her husband's shoulder. She had to get home.


	14. 14

The Air Force Academy wasn't the most secure place there was. There were older students who tended to stand cursory guard duty – more in a manner that would prepare them for the rigors of a well known facet of military life, but really, the cadets ere expected to be on good behavior, and there was little reason to be concerned about someone – or something – actually attacking the school, so there weren't a lot of defenses. Of course, this _was_ the future of the Air Force. So while there weren't a _lot_ of defenses, there were a few. The military wasn't completely trusting, after all.

One set of defenses was in the form of two quasi-retired guard dogs. These were drug dogs; really, brought to the school – complete with handlers – to make sure that no illegal contraband was carried in by students. After all, students were expected to be on their best behavior, but they were young people. And young people didn't _always_ do what they were expected to. The dogs were usually positioned at the gate, and their main capacity was to watch for anything abnormal, and to smell for any drugs.

As twilight was settling on the campus, the two dogs and their handlers were about ready to go off-shift and back to their quarters where they'd enjoy a peaceful dinner before heading off the campus to find a movie or something else interesting to do. Suddenly, both dogs were alert. Their heads turned at the same moment, and their hackles went up immediately. Snarls issued from the bigger of the two, and his head went down in a menacing manner that his handler had never seen before.

"What is it, Hiro?" Both handlers turned the direction the dogs were looking, but there was nothing there. Just an open gate – which would be closed when they went off shift – and a paved lot.

The dog, of course, didn't answer, but his snarl deepened. The handlers looked at each other, completely baffled as the other dog put in his own low growl.

"Wow... something's in the air that they don't like..."

"What do you think it is?"

There was a non-committal shrug.

"Who knows? Might be something they smell coming from outside the fence. Or something from the hills... maybe even a wolf. I hear dogs hate wolves."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"The Discovery Channel."

"Huh, I didn't know that." The guards didn't see anything. There was no perceivable threat to them, their dogs or their charges, and without something in front of them, there was really no way they could be all that alarmed. They were probably just smelling something in the air.

"Come on. Maybe they're hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

The other guard shrugged, and took another look down at his dog. The German Shepherd still had his head low, and his growl was low, but he was now looking somewhere else. Somewhere in the gate instead of beyond it. Whatever was bothering him, it was odd, that was for sure.

"Might as well."

They closed and locked the main gate, and turned the watch over to a group of MPs whose job it was to safeguard the school at night. Then they took their dogs and headed for the barracks, trying to draw the dogs' attention from whatever it was that was that had their hackles still up by offering treats and pats. Eventually, it worked. A few mistrustful looks backwards, and the dogs were led away.

&&

"What kind of creature were those?"

"Will you stop asking me that?"

Every time they'd seen anything strange on this planet – and there were _plenty_ of strange things to see – Ler had asked Kuy what it was. Since he'd been on Earth exactly the same amount of time that his companion had been there, it was a given that Kuy wasn't going to know any more about the inhabitants than Ler.

"They saw us."

"No they didn't. They probably just heard you shuffling your feet. Just walk more quietly."

"I'm not making any noise." The Ashrak looked around him with disdain. There were a lot of humans around – most of them appeared to be younger ones, but none were young enough to be the boy they were looking for. "Where is he?"

Kuy looked down at the device he was holding, and pointed towards a large building with several small windows in the side of it.

"Somewhere in that area." He paused, thinking, then looked over at Ler. "This place is like a training camp for their young. As such, they must send them to their sleep at a certain time. I say we find a place to wait out of the way, and wait for them to go to sleep. Then we can kill him without much hassle, and we won't have to dodge humans on the way in or out. If we do it right."

Ler shrugged. It sounded fine to him. He was tired of walking, anyways, and heartily tired of this crazy world with noisy ground machines, and flying machines, and chattering people. He was ready for a break and some quiet.

"You're the boss."

They walked over to a concealed area by some bushes, against the wall of the dormitory, and there the two crouched down and waited for night to fall and the grounds to grow silent.

&&

They ate dinner in their room. It was a quiet affair – more so than lunch had been. River wasn't feeling all that great; his head was aching – although he wasn't going to tell them that, since he didn't want to look weak in front of Brooks. He was ready to get some sleep, even though it was still early in the day, but he didn't want to be the one to suggest it. So he sat in misery, listening to the pounding of his head as he ate his dinner.

Ian was quiet as well. The New Jersey native was bored being cooped up in the room. He was an active young man and was used to being on the move. The enforced idleness had been fine for a while, but now he was ready for some action. Anything. Bored, bored, bored. He was quiet because he knew that he was getting irritated, and he didn't want to take it out on Shawn and River and ruin what little progress might have been made that day in establishing a friendship. So he sat, and he stewed.

Shawn was quiet because the other two were. He had a fair notion – judging from the look on his face – that River had a headache. Probably brought on by all the questioning he'd gone through during the day. Shawn was determined to let the guy have a chance at some peace and quiet. And that meant not talking. Not even to Ian, who was looking slightly irritated. Of course, he always had that look, Shawn decided, so it was hard to say if it were normal, or if something was bothering him. Either way, Shawn ate in silence to give the two of them some peace and quiet. It wasn't the first time he'd been quiet, after all. And it probably wouldn't be the last.

As evening turned into night, it grew darker and darker. When he was done eating, Shawn started writing a letter to his mother. Ian pulled out a book on Astrophysics and started studying it, and River leaned against his pillows, and closed his eyes. It had been a long day...


	15. 15

_"Jack..."_

_The Presence was back, and as suddenly as the empty spot inside him had been created, it was once more filled. Jack felt the pain in his head soothed once again, and again he felt an almost overwhelming love surrounding him. This time it was laced with guilt for having left him to the pain for so long, and it contained traces of concern – not for Jack but for someone else._

_"There are Ashrak on Earth, Jack. That's what's causing your headache."_

_"What?"_

_He was having enough trouble concentrating around the pain in his head; trying to figure out how a group of long-dead assassins could be causing it was just too much effort._

_"Not the dead ones from before," The voice told him, gently. Jack felt the Presence focus a little more on him, and the pain eased to a dull ache. He sighed, and tried to concentrate a little more, knowing that he was being given as much help as he could._

_"New Ashrak?"_

_"Yes."_

_"On Earth?"_

_Jack felt the beginnings of concern himself, now._

_"They must be. That's why your head hurts. It's a way of letting you know when Ashrak are close."_

_"It didn't hurt when they attacked Shawn at the SGC," Jack protested._

_"It's new. I didn't even know about it."_

_"How-"_

_"It doesn't matter right now, Jack." The voice had sounded a little urgent, but it calmed down a bit, and was once more soothing. "The problem isn't how you know they're on Earth – although once you know, your head will stop hurting – the problem is taking care of them before they do any harm to anyone."_

_"My head still hurts."_

_"That's because you still don't know about them."_

_"You just told me."_

_Now his head was starting to hurt for an entirely different reason._

_Jack felt faint amusement, and understanding. He also had a sense of urgency that was being quelled by necessity._

_"I don't have time to explain, Jack. Not really. And as much as your head hurts, you won't understand it all that well anyways."_

_"I'm not as dumb as I pretend to be."_

_Now there was only amusement and love._

_"I know." There was a pause. "Okay. The short version is this; when I talk to you like this, I can only do it when you're asleep, or unconscious."_

_"Why's that?"_

_"Because those are the only times your subconscious mind is in command. All other times it's your conscious mind, and it's impossible for me to talk to you that directly."_

_"Impossible for you? Or for me?"_

_"For me. You could probably handle it – I know you've been almost expecting it for a long time."_

_"What?"_

_"Never mind. This time, though, Jack, you have to remember the Ashrak – even when you wake up. Which means that you have to really concentrate. The other times we talk, you forget about it, as if it was a dream that is fading. This time it can't fade. Not only because your head will still be hurting, but because Shawn could be in serious danger, and we have to go prevent that."_

_"Shawn?" Jack was instantly more alert, and the headache increased because of it. He gasped._

_"I can't think of another reason the Ashrak would be on Earth, Jack. They could be after you, but I doubt it. That only leaves Shawn. They've attacked him before, remember."_

_"He was older then."_

_"This group must have figured out a way to come back in time after him, trying to get at him when he's more vulnerable."_

_"Didn't I see this in a movie someplace?"_

_"Jack."_

_"Sorry."_

_"You have to_ concentrate_. The two ships that those eggheads found are probably the Ashrak's ships. Sam's smart enough to figure it out if you give her a hint. She'd probably figure it out eventually without a hint, but it might be too late by then."_

_"How do I give her a hint?"_

_"You won't be able to remember this whole conversation – no one could. Just concentrate on remembering 'Ashrak.'"_

_"Ashrak."_

_"Yes. Just say it over and over again, Jack. And keep saying it, like a telephone number you're trying to remember."_

_"Ashrak... Ashrak... Ashrak..."_

_Jack felt the Presence fading once more, and the pain in his head was increasing. He closed his eyes tightly against the pain, and kept mumbling to himself, "Ashrak... Ashrak..."_

"Jack?" The whisper was soft, and concerned. Sam had been watching him sleep for almost an hour, occasionally running a cool cloth over his face although it didn't seem to be doing much good.

"_Ashrak_..."

She frowned, unsure what she'd just heard him whisper.

"What?"

_"Ashrak... Ashrak..."_

Sam leaned forward. He must have been having a bad dream; remembering the time when the Ashrak had come through the Stargate with the older version of Shawn.

"They're dead, Jack," Sam soothed. "They're all dead... it's okay."

_"Ashrak..."_

Jack opened his eyes, then, and Sam gave him a soft smile, her hand brushing his cheek as she watched him look around in confusion.

"Hey..."

"Sam..."

"How's the head?"

"Awful." He brushed his hand against Jaffer, who was also waking up, and looking as distracted as Jack felt miserable. The black lab moved out from under the comforter and dropped easily off the couch and went over to get a drink of water. Jack sat up, and put his head in his hands. "I've been having... a... _dream_?"

"About the Ashrak?" Sam asked.

Jack looked up at her. That didn't sound right. Dreaming about Ashrak? He'd been dreaming about something _good_. Something that loved him. Definitely _not_ the Ashrak. But that _did_ sound familiar, too.

"Ashrak?"

"You were whispering 'Ashrak' in your sleep," Sam explained.

"I was?"

There was a sudden knock on the door. Jaffer, his mouth slobbery from his drink, was the first to the door, his tail wagging slowly – which told both of them that he didn't know the person on the other side of the door too well, although it wasn't a stranger.

"You were," Sam confirmed, standing up. "Stay put, I'll get the door."

"Be careful." Jack told her, feeling a sense of danger, although he didn't think it was directed at Sam. He frowned, trying to figure out through the blinding headache why he was suddenly so sure there was danger of some kind.

Sam gave him an odd look, and opened the door. Like anything was going to attack her with Jaffer standing right next to her?

"Major, I'm sorry I'm so late. I had trouble with a couple of forms."

The officer standing at the door was the one who'd asked her to look at the hologram device earlier that day. It had completely slipped Sam's mind.

"Lieutenant Marsh." Sam looked over at Jack, who was still on the couch. This was definitely not the best of times. The Lieutenant followed her gaze, and saw Jack as well.

"His head still hurts?"

Sam nodded, looking down at the device in the man's hand.

"I'm afraid this really isn't..."

"I understand, Major," Marsh said, amiably. "If I had a headache, I wouldn't want my house filled with people, either. It'll wait until tomorrow."

Sam smiled, glad that the young man understood. She didn't want to send him away so rudely, though – especially since he'd obviously just wasted his night on her, so she thought quickly. "I can at least send you off with a cup of coffee. Come on in."

He looked down at Jaffer, who was looking at the small device the man was carrying. (They'd long since decided it had no radiation emissions and was therefore safe to touch)

"I won't be in the way?"

"No." Sam smiled. "He won't bite you, Lieutenant. Just keep that thing away from him so he doesn't get a chance to eat it."

It was a fair bet that if Jaffer wanted to take the device from him, the Lieutenant wasn't going to be able to stop him, but Marsh didn't say anything. He just walked in the door and Sam closed it behind him.

He looked around the living room while Sam went into the kitchen. Jaffer stayed right by Marsh, watching him and making sure he didn't do anything suspicious. Jaffer didn't dislike Marsh, he just didn't know him all that well – he'd only seen him a couple times, after all. The man didn't smell like fear, though, which meant he belonged, and he wasn't planning on doing anything or causing any danger to his Jack – or his Sam for that matter.

Marsh's eye was caught by the same thing that caught everyone's eye when they walked into the room. The Wall. The Wall was filled with pictures – most of them Jaffer. It had the black lab's leashes and collars and one very tiny puppy coat with the lab's name on it. He walked ver and looked at it, Jaffer right beside him, eyeing the device in his hands.

"Wow..."

Jack looked over from where he sat, debating whether he should be a good host and get up and point out pictures. The pain in his head told him to stay where he was.

Then Marsh saw something else, and he almost dropped the device in his hand.

"Holy _shit_!"


	16. 16

Jack looked over at the curse, his face set in a scowl – but _that_ was already there from the ache in his head. He forced himself to his feet and headed for the Wall.

"Lieutenant?"

Sam had come in from the kitchen at the same exclamation, worried that he'd dropped the device – or that Jaffer had taken it from him and had chewed it up.

"Will?"

They both converged on the Lieutenant, who was staring at a picture that Shawn and Sam had given Jack for Father's day. A picture of Sam, Jaffer and Shawn all sitting in a studio somewhere, smiling for the camera.

"_That's_ the kid!"

Will Marsh turned and looked at Sam, who was looking at him with a blank look. He turned to Jack, who was frowning.

"What kid?"

"The one in the device."

"What?" Jack was really having a hard time controlling the urge to boot the guy out of his house. No one should be so excited when he felt so miserable.

"The _kid_... it's the kid in the device I wanted Major Carter to look at."

"It's Major _O'Neill_, Lieutenant." Jack corrected, scowling.

"Jack..." Sam caught Marsh's attention, and pointed at the device. "What do you _mean_, Will? What kid?"

"One of the ships that landed today had a device in-"

"We know. You told us this already." Jack needed to sit down. His head was pounding so badly it was a wonder it hadn't popped right off his neck and rolled across the floor.

"Sir... the device is a hologram of some sort, and I swear that's the kid that the hologram shows."

"Let me see it," Sam said, reaching out and taking it from the Lieutenant. She carried it over to the dining room table and sat it down. Rather than try and figure out how to turn it on, she gestured for Marsh to turn it on for her, and the Lieutenant reached out and flipped a nearly invisible switch. Suddenly in front of them was a hologram image of Shawn. A picture of him from about a year ago or so. A near copy – if not an exact copy of one of his school pictures.

Jack looked at the hologram, and then back at Marsh.

"Where did these ships land?"

"Just outside of Colorado Springs. They were quasi-cloaked, but we tracked them with radar until they landed and then used their oxygen and carbon emmi-"

"Stop." Jack held a hand up. He didn't want to hear the techo-babble. "What kind of ships are they?"

"We don't know, Sir. They didn't have-"

"Where are the people that were in them?"

"We didn't find anyone in them. They were empty, except for this device. We assumed they were remotely controlled." He hesitated. The kid in the picture looked a bit like O'Neill himself. "Who is he, Sir?"

"Who would have a picture of Shawn?" Sam asked Jack.

Jack was rubbing his head.

"The Asgard might, but they wouldn't land in little ships. If they wanted something they'd come to us directly – or beam us up."

"They're not around right now, though, right?"

Jack shook his head. "Andrew doesn't start school for another week, so they won't be around until he does..." He rubbed his forehead again, trying to concentrate on a memory that had seemed so important, but something he couldn't remember. It was _right there_... he just couldn't remember what it was. Jaffer whined, and put his nose in Jack's side, and O'Neill stroked his shoulder with his free hand. A single word came to his mind, and rolled off his tongue almost of its own accord.

"_Ashrak_..."

"What?"

It all clicked.

"Shit! They're _Ashrak_ ships, Sam," Jack said, standing up so fast he hit the table and knocked the device over. The image of Shawn continued to show; only now it was on its side. Jack looked down at it, unable to know how he was so positive he was right, only knowing he _was_.

"Ashrak?" Sam was looking at him almost dubiously, wondering if his headache was causing him to jump to conclusions.

"What's an Ashrak?" Marsh asked.

"How big were those ships?" Jack asked, already moving towards the hall, with Jaffer right beside him. Marsh followed him.

"One man ships, Sir."

"Jack?"

O'Neill stopped in the bedroom and grabbed his shoes and reached into the drawer beside his bed and pulled out his Beretta and holster. He looked at the weapon, and then at Sam.

"It's got to be Ashrak, Sam. I don't know how, but they've come after him once, and they're doing it again." He turned his gaze back to Marsh once more. The man looked bewildered, but Jack didn't have time or inclination to explain. "You're positive there were only two ships? There weren't more hiding somewhere else?"

"No, Sir. Only two. We wouldn't have missed any other ships. They were easy to track."

Sam reached for her shoes, as well as a BDU jacket. She was only wearing a light tank top, since she'd showered and changed after coming home. Jack was still mostly in uniform, since he'd pretty much collapsed on the couch when he'd walked into the door. Only his shoes had made it as far as the bedroom, and only because Sam had taken them there.

"When did they land?"

"About noon, Sir." Marsh told him. "I could call and find out exact-"

Jack stood up and interrupted him, and the Lieutenant moved when Jack headed for the closet he was standing in front of. Rummaging through it, Jack pulled down another pistol, this one with an ankle holster, and then he slid a wicked-looking knife into a sheath, and slipped it into his waistband. He couldn't have enough firepower when it came to Ashrak. He just hoped they weren't too late.

"Noon?" Sam's face was just as worried as Jack's. She wasn't as positive as he was, but when he seemed this sure of something, he was normally right, and she was just as concerned about Shawn as Jack was. "They could be _anywhere_."

"Yeah, they could. We've gotta get moving."

Jack was already heading for the door, Jaffer trotting ahead of him, and Sam right behind him, grabbing up her cell phone and already dialing the base. They'd want Jack and Teal'c – if they could get there in time. And since Teal'c was on base, he could pick up one of the B'kedricti weapons that had been salvaged from the last Ashrak attack. They'd proven to be very good at taking down these alien assassins.

"Colonel?"

Marsh was following them, completely confused by the sudden commotion.

"Lock up on your way out, Lieutenant," Jack told him, grabbing his keys and heading out the door.


	17. 17

"We have to take the dishes back..."

Shawn had just finished his first official letter home from the Academy and had looked over at the desk, and had seen the pile of dishes left over from their dinner. He and Ian had promised the kitchen staff that they'd return them promptly, and had forgotten. Anxious for something to do – anything – Ian rolled off his top bunk and landed neatly on his feet.

"I'll do it."

"I could," River offered. Of course, he looked half asleep, and he was dressed in those ugly pajama bottoms that neither Shawn nor Ian wanted anyone else to ever see. Brooks shook his head.

"I can do it."

He started stacking them onto one of the trays, and then stacked that tray onto the other.

"You want help?" Shawn asked.

"Nah. You finish your letter." Shawn already had his shoes off and was partially ready for bed. The clock had read after 9 PM and it wasn't long before the lights off bell would ring, telling the cadets it was time for bed. They got up early, after all, and were sent to bed relatively early to compensate.

"I'm finished, but I think I'll go take a quick shower before the bell rings."

"Better hurry," River told him, looking at his watch.

"He's not very big," Brooks said. "Probably doesn't take long to wash up."

Shawn shook his head. Even though Ian had said it jokingly, he wondered if he was going to get tired of all the short jokes, or if they'd fade away with time. He wouldn't be smaller than everyone else forever, after all. Just for another couple of years. By then he should be catching up, depending on when he hit his next growth spurt. Heck, in a couple of years, he'd even be _shaving_. Probably.

"Cheap shot, Brooks," River said, frowning. He wasn't sure if he liked the little jokes, either, but he was trying hard to remain civil.

"I'm only teasing him."

"As I recall, you _teasing_ him is what got us into this mess in the first place."

"No. You're inability to get off your bunk without bashing your head open is what got us here in the first place."

"Hey, I didn't-"

"Guys." Shawn sighed. They were getting along better, but he supposed it would have been a miracle to expect them to be best friends. Maybe some day... but not _that_ day.

Ian shrugged, and took his trays and dishes and headed out into the hall. Shawn grabbed a towel and did the same; only he headed in the opposite direction, towards the bathrooms at the end of the hall.

It was a big bathroom, since it was designed to be used by several people at once. Plenty of stalls and urinals, and a whole section devoted to showers. There were no partitions for privacy – it was the military after all – but Shawn didn't need any privacy. He wasn't bashful around other guys. Even guys that were hairier than he was and far more developed.

He greeted Eric – who was in his platoon – and told him about what had been going on, explaining to him why he, Ian and River had apparently vanished off the ends of the Earth, and then laughed when he was told that the other members in the platoon had assumed they'd all killed each other and the Air Force was simply biding its time to hide the bodies.

The lights off bell rang while Shawn was still in the shower. He and Eric weren't the only two to speed up their night time bathroom visit; they dried off quickly, dressed quickly, and cleaned up after themselves, then they all hurried as a group out the door, where they separated as each guy came to his room. Shawn told Eric he'd see him in the morning, then slipped into his room, just as the lights in the hallway went dark, leaving only the emergency lights to act as nightlights to those few souls who were still out wandering the halls.

"Ian's not back?" Shawn asked as he hung his towel on the end of his chair to dry.

River opened his eyes, and looked around. He'd been dozing, stretched out on his blankets, his head practically under his pillow.

"Nope, not yet."

"He'd better hurry. The lights out bell just rang."

"He'll be fine. Even _he_ can't get lost on the way back to the room from the cafeteria."

Shawn smiled, and changed into a pair of sweats. He had _pajamas_, of course – not as ugly as River's, but he _did_ have some – but Jack wore sweats when he slept, and Shawn pretty much did everything Jack did when he could. Navy blue sweats, and no shirt.

"You're pretty buffed for a little kid," River noted, a little surprised. Shawn didn't have great big muscles, or anything, but he did have a well-developed physique from working with so many weapons instructors and self-defense teachers.

Shawn grinned and struck a pose, which didn't cause the muscles to stick out much more than they already did.

"I have a personal trainer."

"Uh huh. Well, now that you're in the Academy, you're going to have a whole bunch of them, and they're going to wake you up at 5:30 to get you started on your calisthenics. You'd better get to bed."

"True enough. Maybe you'd better take a moment and practice getting out of bed, now, before they wake you up in the morning?"

River grinned, and flipped him the bird.

"Touché, genius."

Shawn laughed and got into bed. He didn't turn off the light, since he figured Ian could do that when he got into the room. He put his hands behind his head, and sighed softly, looking up at the ceiling. His first day of the Academy was over. It had been a rough one, and he'd actually been worried about getting kicked out, but it looked like the two guys he was going to be spending most of his time with were finally starting to get along, so it'd probably start getting better. He closed his eyes and started to relax, allowing himself to doze off...

A while later, he heard the door open, and assumed it was Ian. He started to say something, when a rough voice – a far rougher voice than Ian possessed – spoke up from the doorway, no more than fifteen feet from Shawn's head.

"_That's_ the one we want."

Shawn looked over just in time to see two... men... appear out of nowhere, almost like an Asgard ship uncloaking. He had time to register that both were holding very large, crazy-looking weapons before they both pointed them at him, and fired.


	18. 18

"Teal'c's on his way," Sam said about ten minutes later. "He'll bring Jack, and the B'kedricti and a squad of base security forces will be coming with him."

"They're never going to get there in time..." Jack's eyes were on the road in front of him, his truck was speeding through the streets far faster than was really safe, but he had no intention of slowing down. If anything, he sped up every chance he got. The Academy was so _close_ that morning, and now it was so damned far away. Why hadn't he figured this out before? What had he been thinking? A strange ship lands on the planet and all he can think about is his _head_?

"We'll be there about ten minutes sooner than he is." Sam told him. As long as they didn't crash and die on the way. She clutched the handle by the window as they veered around a corner, the tires on the truck squealing in protest.

"We'll never make it..."

"They would have called if something was wrong..."

They couldn't rely on just the AFA security to help them. No one at the Academy knew about the Stargate, they certainly didn't know about aliens on Earth, and they didn't know about Shawn's connections with the aforementioned aliens and Stargate. And they couldn't. Not if they could help it.

"What did Hammond say?"

"He wasn't there. They're calling him in." She hesitated, looking over at him. "I had them call Janet. She's going to come with Teal'c and the SGC people."

Jack's hands tightened on the steering wheel, the knuckles turning white. Janet would probably be needed. Jack could only hope _she_ was needed. The thought of Shawn – young, defenseless and completely ignorant of any such threat like the Ashrak – facing a pair of the deadly assassins alone was just a bleak one.

"We should have told him about them..."

It had been Jack who was responsible for Shawn not knowing about the Ashrak. Jack had made the decision that Shawn shouldn't know, so he wouldn't have to live in fear, constantly looking over his shoulder for an invisible assassin. Jack had said he'd take care of Shawn. He'd told them he could watch the boy. Shawn was supposed to have a childhood, even if he wanted to go to the Academy, and Jack wasn't going to ruin that by telling him about the assassins that were after the older version of himself.

"You made the right call about that," Sam told him, resisting the urge to rest her hand reassuringly on his thigh. She _didn't_ want to distract him as fast as they were going. "You know that."

His hands tightened on the wheel again, his eyes never leaving the road. Sam had backed him completely at the time, and Dotty had agreed because both of them had been so adamant. Now look where it had gotten them.

"Call ahead and warn them that we're coming in. I don't want to get slowed down by some over zealous cadet on guard duty."

"What do I tell them?" She asked, dialing the SGC to get the number of the Academy.

He shook his head, trying to think of something. Sam was bad at making up stories, that was proven fact, so he knew it was pretty much up to him to come up with something. He used the first thing he could think of, even though he knew it lame.

"Tell them there are bank robbers – or escaped Military prisoners – in the area, and we think they're hiding on the grounds or something. Anything to get them to lock down the cadets, and keep them out of the way."

Sam nodded; once again impressed by the way Jack thought so well when he was obviously worried about other things. It was one of the reasons he was such a good Commanding officer. She started talking into the phone, and Jack took another corner far too quickly.

&&

A blast of energy hit the wall right by where Shawn's head had been. Less than a second later, another blast struck the same place. Both shots missed, but only because Shawn had rolled out of his bed, blankets and all.

"What the hell?"

River sat up in his bed; promptly hitting his head in the exact same spot he'd hit it earlier that day. The stitches ripped, and the bandage turned scarlet, but he didn't even flinch. Both guns had turned on him the moment he spoke up, and he emulated Shawn, rolling off his bunk as well, diving behind the desk as two 'shots' took out sizable chunks of the wall behind the bunk beds.

"River! Watch out!"

Shawn was looking for a weapon. Anything that could be used as a weapon. He didn't know what these guys were, or who they were, but they were serious. And dangerous. One of them turned towards Shawn, who ducked behind his own desk, and again a shot was fired. This time coming uncomfortably close to Shawn's head.

"Who are they?" River called, looking wildly around for something to throw at the man who was walking towards his hiding spot, advancing with his weapon out in front of him. He grabbed up his Physics book and hurled it, daringly exposing far more of himself than he should have. He paid for it, too. The book hit the weapon as it went off, deflecting the shot a little, but not by much. Instead of hitting River in the chest where the Ashrak had been aiming, the force bolt slammed into the young man's shoulder, knocking him off his feet and back against the wall. He tumbled to the floor, ominously still and silent.

The Ashrak that had just downed River turned his weapon on Shawn, who was frozen. He was trapped. The desk made a great shield against one person, but it left him nowhere to go when there were two weapons trained on him. Figuring it was better to go down fighting than to just go down, Shawn poised himself to attack, trying to decide which one would be most vulnerable. Neither looked vulnerable.

There was a sudden clatter of broken glass from behind the Ashrak, and both of them turned. The one who'd originally fired at Shawn turned, and ran right into the tray that Ian slammed into his face. The Ashrak dropped like a rock, and Ian dropped the tray on the prone body, contemptuously.

"How do you like _that_, mother fucker?"

"Ian!"

Shawn rushed out from behind the desk, piling into the other Ashrak, who had turned as well and was already bringing his weapon to bear on Brooks. Shawn didn't bring this Ashrak down, but he did manage to knock him aside enough to make the shot go wild. Ian dodged as the bolt hit the doorframe, and he and Shawn both scrambled to their feet quickly.

"Come on!"

Brooks grabbed Shawn's arm and yanked him towards the door, but Shawn struggled to get free. Brooks was bigger, though, and he had more leverage just then. Short of hurting him intentionally, Shawn wasn't going to get free.

"Let me _go_!"

"Come on!"

He dragged him out the door, and Shawn stepped on a piece of broken glass. His bare feet were no protection, and he felt skin slice open.

"I thought you took the dishes back?" He gasped as he was dragged through even more broken glass, biting back a gasp of pain when the first piece of glass went deeper.

"The kitchen was closed."

Ian realized why Shawn was going so slowly, and reached over and picked the younger cadet up, slinging over his shoulder to get him through the broken glass.

"We _can't_ leave River," Shawn told him, struggling once more to get free. "He's hurt!"

"Those guys aren't after _River_, Shawn," Ian countered, still heading down the hall. "If they were, they would have stopped shooting when he went down. We've got to get help. For us and _him_."

He set Shawn on his feet as soon as they were clear of all the glass, and Shawn reached down and yanked the glass out of his foot. He didn't have time to stop and see what kind of damage was done. Ian was right; they _had_ to get some help. But first they had to get away from the guys that were shooting at them. Shawn had no idea what they wanted, but since it seemed they were after blood, he definitely didn't want to give it to them...

Leaving a trail of bloody footprints, he and Ian turned the corner and headed for the stairs.


	19. 19

A bell started ringing; a steady buzzer-like sound. The Ashrak didn't know what it meant, but the cadets did. Even the first year cadets had been told that if the bell rang like that they were to stay in their dorms. Usually, this was the way of doing a bed check in case something serious happened, like cadets getting caught sneaking off campus after hours, or something like that, but the assassins didn't know that. All they knew was that they'd missed their first and easiest chance at their target.

"Get up!"

Kuy pulled Ler to his feet roughly, angry beyond words that their prey had escaped what should have been the simplest trap there was. There had only been _two_ of them! He hadn't expected the third to show up, and realized that their biggest mistake was going visible. Nothing could hit a target they couldn't see. The Ashrak touched a button on his armor, and immediately he was cloaked. Ler, still shaking off the wallop given to him by the sneaky human, emulated him, and the two of them turned and went out the door.

The hallway was empty, but there was no doubt which way they wanted to go. The humans had left them an easy trail to follow. Kuy had noticed that the one he'd wanted was only half dressed, and the assassin picked up a bloody shard of glass that had been dropped on the floor.

"We follow the blood, and we'll find our target," he said, dropping the glass once more. "This time, no mistakes. I want to leave as soon as possible." The buzzing was unnerving him just a little.

Hefting their weapons and unseen by anyone – especially since there was no one in the halls to see them – the two assassins started down the corridor, following the trail of blood.

&&

The gate was open when they roared onto the Air Force Academy grounds, and there was a small group of men and last year cadets waiting for them. But no dogs.

"I said _dogs_," Jack growled as he opened the door. He'd _heard_ Sam tell the Commandant of the Academy that he wanted dogs.

"Our dogs and handlers are off campus, Colonel," he was told. "We're recalling them now."

"When they come in, have them stay at the gate. We have men and dogs coming as well. We _can't_ let these guys get off the grounds."

Jaffer had jumped out of the truck right behind Sam, and the two came around to stand beside Jack – who wanted nothing more than to rush up to Shawn's room, but knew that they had to pretend to be looking for escaped criminals. Besides, they _didn't_ want the Ashrak to get off the grounds, and the dogs would be the only ones who could tell they were there. Jack (the dog), of course, wouldn't let an Ashrak past him, and O'Neill knew it, so he was hoping Teal'c and the others would get there soon.

"These men are dangerous, so stay back," Jack said, pulling his Beretta out and double-checking its load. "If you see them, call for help. Don't try to take them on by yourself. Place some men on this gate, and check the far grounds" – which was where they would probably be safest, and _out of the way_ – "Major O'Neill and myself will start with the student dorms and work our way out."

There were nods, but Jack didn't see them; he'd already turned and was heading for the door. He knew where Shawn's dorm was – he'd seen it on the tour Sam had given him and Shawn weeks before – and that was their first stop.

"What do we tell the roommate?" Sam asked as they pelted up the stairs, Jaffer in the lead, his hackles already starting to rise as he caught the lingering scent of the Ashrak – who'd been all over the halls in their search for Shawn's dorm.

"We'll worry about that when he's safe. When _they're_ safe."

They crashed through the door at the top of the stairs and out into the hallway. Jack was half-expecting to see a bloodbath in the makings, and stopped when there wasn't anything. No noises, no screams, no sound of weapons-fire. Jaffer's claws clicked on the tiled floor as the big lab headed for the room halfway down the hall, and Jack and Sam were only a little behind him.

Now, for the first time, Jack saw evidence of a fight. A bunch of broken dishes and a bent tray lying on the floor by the door. A bloody footprint that was too small to be anyone else's.

"Shawn?"

He looked through the open door, but didn't expect to see his son in the room. The footprints headed down the hall, and Jack was certain _that_ was the way to go – but he had to make sure.

Jaffer entered the room, making a beeline for a young man who was sprawled on the floor, wearing nothing but an ugly pair of pajamas. The black lab whined softly, snuffling River's unconscious form, and Sam and Jack came in behind him, and Sam rolled the cadet over, sliding her fingers along his neck, looking for a pulse. The tanned face was smeared with blood – blood coming from under a bandage that was already in place.

"He's alive," She said, relieved. She knew this was River, because she'd seen the picture and read the letter the older cadet had sent Shawn. Obviously, they'd already had a run in with the Ashrak, and had come out second-best.

Jack had been looking around the room. There were several chunks of plaster missing from the walls, mute testimony that there had been a firefight in here. A one-sided firefight. There weren't any weapons on the AFA grounds. None that the students would be able to get to, anyways. There wasn't an armory or anything.

"We have to find him..."

"Go, Jack," Sam said, reaching for a towel that was hanging on the end of a bed, and using that to staunch the bleeding from the young man's forehead. "I'll make sure he's stable and will be right behind you."

"Are-"

"_Go_!"

He didn't need to be told twice. He shut the door behind him, knowing that even if the Ashrak were invisible, they couldn't walk through doors, which would give Sam plenty of notice if they double backed and returned to the room. He would have left Jaffer, just to make sure that she was as safe as she could be, but Jack needed the lab to track the Ashrak for him. He reached down and pulled his backup pistol from the ankle holster, and headed down the hall, following the bloody footprints. A weapon in both hands and his best weapon running in front of him. All he needed now were targets.


	20. 20

"Hold on!"

Brooks grabbed Shawn's arm again, pulling him to a stop and looking back. The two of them had rabbited down the hall and to the far stairs by the bathroom, then down three flights of stairs. They'd passed the level that held the Commandant's office and quarters, as well as some of the faculty. There weren't weapons in those places; the Cadets had breathlessly discussed it as they bolted. They needed a place where they could find someone with guns. That meant the guards at the gate.

"What-"

"Hush."

The only sound in the stairwell was the heavy breathing of the two cadets. Ian looked up the stairs they'd just come down.

"They're not following..." His voice was clouded with doubt. What if he'd been _wrong_? What if they'd just left River to face the two men alone? He started back towards the stairs, ignoring the door that led to the parade ground, which would take them to the main gate.

"Wait..."

Shawn thought he heard a noise on the stairs above them. The stairwell was fully enclosed, and it echoed weirdly, but it also sounded empty. Dreadfully empty.

"We've got to-"

"Shut up for a minute... I thought I heard-"

He heard it again. A faint noise above them, almost like the shuffle of booted feet.

"_I_ heard _that_." Ian whispered.

Shawn nodded, looking over at the New Yorker.

"Yeah... but I don't _see_ anything... do you?"

"No... maybe we're just imagining it."

"_Both_ of us?"

"Maybe it's coming from somewhere else?"

"Maybe..."

Shawn took a tentative step up the staircase, craning his head and trying to see any movement above them; a shadow or something that would give him advanced warning of one of the attackers coming down the stairs.

"Be careful."

Shawn nodded, taking another step. With no shoes on, his own footsteps were silent. He went up to the first turn of the stairs, and hesitated again, listening as hard as he could. He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything.

"I don't see anyone."

Shawn about wet himself when Ian spoke in his ear. He had been concentrating so hard on what was going on above him, he hadn't been paying attention to what Ian had been doing down below.

"Don't _do_ that to me!" Shawn whispered, trying to get his heart to get out of his throat.

"Sorry." Ian actually _did_ look sorry. He had to know how tense Shawn felt. It was a sure bet he was just as tense, after all. "We'd better get back up there and get Hayden..." God only knew what they'd done to him. If it was something serious, it was all Ian's fault, and he knew it. He'd been the one who'd told Shawn that the attackers weren't after the Californian, after all. Shawn hadn't wanted to leave.

Shawn nodded, and the two of them turned the corner and started up the next half-flight of stairs. They had just cleared the first level and were turning to start the second, when Shawn heard another noise and stopped. It was all that saved him. A blast of energy came out of nowhere and slammed into the wall beside him. Shattered concrete peppered Shawn's bare chest and belly, but he didn't even notice. He and Ian had dodged back down the way they came as another blast came from nowhere, just barely missing Brooks. The cadet tripped over Shawn and took a tumble down the half-flight of stairs they'd just climbed. Shawn dove after him, going down the stairs in an only slightly more controlled fashion.

He landed right beside Ian at the bottom of the flight and both of them scrambled to their feet, looking back the way they'd come.

"I didn't see anyone!" Brooks said, holding his side and looking back behind them, his eyes wide.

Shawn shook his head. He hadn't, either. But there was no mistaking that there _was_ someone behind them.

"Are you all right?"

Ian nodded, although his face was tight with pain.

"I'm fine. Come on..."

They headed down the next half-flight, but they were going a lot slower this time – even with the added threat of the weapon-toting bad guys following them. Shawn held himself to Ian's pace, and the older cadet was limping and gasping with every step. Obviously, he wasn't as okay as he'd said he was.

Shawn reached out to support him, but Ian pushed him away.

"Get going, Shawn. I'm just holding you back!"

"No... lean on me... we'll get out together."

Ian didn't have the breath to argue. Something inside him had broken – probably a rib – and he had pain stabbing through him with every breath. Coupled with the sprained ankle – and God, he _hoped_ it was only _sprained_ – there just wasn't any way he was going to make it to the gate.

One hand clutched his side; the other came down on Shawn's shoulder, and the two of them kept going down. Now, though, they could hear the sound of their pursuers. And they weren't far away.

&&

Jaffer was held up by the door that led to the stairs. For all his abilities, there were some doors that the big black lab couldn't open, and a fire door was one of them. He scuffled against it with his nose and paw, but it wasn't going to open without help.

Jack wasn't all that far behind, though, and only a moment later the door was opened. Just in time for the two of them to hear sounds of firing weapons. Weapons that Jack had heard only once before, but which had such distinctive sounds that there was no doubt what it was. Jack knew what was being fired, and he was positive he knew who was being fired at.

"Jaffer!"

The black lab pelted down the stairs, with Jack following at a dead run. He was taking the stairs at a dangerously fast rate, but there was only one thought on his mind, and it wasn't a fall. With both guns drawn, he was watching Jaffer, looking for a target, knowing that the lab would find them even if they were invisible.


	21. 21

They crashed through the door at the bottom of the stairs, and another blast of the weapons rang out. It hit the door, which had swung back into place and had shielded the two cadets from the shot. Instinctively, Shawn and Ian ducked anyways, and Ian's injured ankle gave way under him and he went down.

"Get up!"

Shawn wasn't strong enough to pull Brooks to his feet, but his strength was enough to help the older cadet get back to his feet, and the two looked around, trying to decide which way to go now.

They were in a dimly lit hall on the first floor. At the end of the hall was the door to the outside, but with the attackers so close behind them they knew even without discussing it that they'd never make it that far. The only problem was, there just wasn't a lot of other options. The bottom floor in this section of the Academy didn't hold much. Just a couple of administrative offices.

Ian reached for the closest door, but it was locked.

"Shit!"

"Come on!"

The two of them started down the hall. There were a couple of restrooms only a few doors down, and _they'd_ be opened. No one ever locked a bathroom. Of course, they still didn't have any idea what to do once they made it that far – if they did. Bathrooms didn't usually carry a big stock of weaponry, after all.

The door crashed open behind them before they'd even stumbled a dozen steps, and both of them turned. There was no one there.

"What-"

"Move!"

Ian pushed Shawn, and then stumbled forward, knocking both of them back to the floor. And again the timing couldn't have been better. Twin blasts rang out, striking the walls.

Shawn scrambled up, and tried to pull Ian to his feet as well. He was pretty sure that the next shot wasn't going to miss. There was no way they were going to make it down the hall, and there was no way they could keep missing. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Shawn had never really understood that phrase until just then.

"Come _on_..."

Ian struggled to his feet once more, but he was _really_ hurting and he knew all he was doing was slowing Shawn down. He knew as well as Shawn did that they didn't have a chance. They couldn't fight back, because there was nothing there to attack – even if they had a weapon of some sort, and they couldn't run away, because they couldn't _get_ away. There wasn't anyplace to go.

"Go, Shawn! Get he-"

A snarl like nothing he'd ever heard before interrupted him, and an impossibly large, black shape came from the stairwell door closing in fast. Ian yelled, certain that this was related in some way to the guys that were after them – maybe a new kind of attack or something, and he dragged Shawn down to the floor, pulling the younger cadet close and trying to protect him from the attack that was coming.

"Jaffer!"

Shawn recognized the form immediately – even in the near dark of the hall. He knew that dog anywhere. He didn't know how Jack had known he was in trouble, but the hopelessness he'd felt only moments before was replaced by a welling of relief. If Jaffer was there, Jack had to be there, too.

The lab didn't stop to say hi, and the Ashrak didn't even see the attack coming. Jaffer couldn't see them. He knew where they _were_, though. He could smell them, and sense them. He attacked from behind, crashing into the closest one, and knocking him to the floor, even as his teeth scored across the armor on the Ashrak's back. Ler made a surprised noise as he and the heavy dog went down in a pile, and the weapon in his hand went off once more. The bolt of energy slammed into the two cadets – Shawn had been struggling to his feet, Ian had been trying to hold him down – and they were both knocked backwards, crashing into a wall and lying still.

"_Shawn_!"

Jack had come through the door just in time to see the two cadets go down. With an anguished curse, he started towards the two, and was tripped up by something invisible. He went down hard, the weapon in his left hand sliding down the hall as it was jarred loose from his grip, the Beretta in his right held tight simply because Jack _never_ dropped his Beretta. His hand would have to fall off first.

He rolled over, kicking out his leg in a sweeping motion even as he did so. He'd fought Ashrak before. He knew it was almost impossible to kill something he couldn't see, unless he could keep that something close enough that he could feel it. His leg hit something solid, and there was the sound of a body landing close to him as he tripped the Ashrak. Jack used the sound as a locator and dove onto it, his left hand searching for the weapon he was certain would be already pointing at him, his right hand pulling the Beretta around to try and get a definite shot.

Kuy couldn't believe what was happening. It had been so easy! So easy! One little human and they could go. Now it was all going wrong. Even as he struggled to get his weapon around to bring it to bear on the human that had tripped him up – how had he known he was _there_ – he could hear growls and snarls, and Ler's grunts of pain as the Ashrak tried to deal with the creature that had attacked him. Again, as if he'd known _exactly_ where they were.

Kuy brought his leg up, crashing his knee into the belly of the human attacking him. There was a grunt of pain, but the hand that had closed around his right hand didn't release him, and he still couldn't bring his B'kedricti around for a shot to rid himself of the human's assault. He struggled under the man, twisting and turning to free his other hand and get it between the two of them. He was carrying a knife – all Ashrak carried knives – if he could reach it, he would have an advantage.

Jack grunted when he felt the knee hit his stomach, but he didn't allow the sudden shortness of breath to stop him. He couldn't afford to let up on his attack; because he knew the moment he did he was going to give the Ashrak under him the time he needed to do something dangerous. He felt the Ashrak start to really squirm under him, and rammed his own knee into a body part, but it was hard to aim when he couldn't see what he was after, and he didn't have any leverage. He was using all his weight to try and keep the assassin from getting up, which meant he was already pressed tightly against him.

A sudden movement under him, and he felt a searing pain across the inside of his forearm. A slash of crimson appeared, and Jack knew he was in trouble. Despite his efforts, the Ashrak had managed to pull out a knife. O'Neill was well aware of how much damage an invisible assailant with an invisible knife could do – he'd experienced it first hand. Biting back a pained curse that he knew would just draw Jaffer's attention from his own vicious battle, Jack pulled that hand back, and brought it down hard on the Ashrak, trying to hit him with the butt of his gun. The Beretta made contact, but Jack felt another searing pain – this one along his hip.

"Son of a _bitch_!"

He turned the weapon in his hand, and pressed the barrel against the struggling Ashrak body under him. Time for a desperate measure, before things got _really_ out of hand. Jack pulled the trigger, hoping that whatever armor the assassin was wearing; it wasn't something that would ricochet the slug back at _him_. In the hall, the gunshot echoed shockingly loud.

There was a gasp of pain, but the struggle continued. Jack fired again. And again.


	22. 22

Ler rolled out from under the heavy weight of the creature that was attacking him. He was terrified. Never had he seen anything like this. It had flashing teeth that were everywhere at once, and the snarls and growls were almost distracting as he tried to fight off the teeth. The only thing the Ashrak had going for him was the fact that the creature couldn't see him, and therefore couldn't get a grip on him with those teeth. But the animal was so fast in its movements that it almost didn't _need_ to see him.

He kicked at the creature as he rolled, and was rewarded with a yelp, that was promptly followed by another angry snarl and a renewed attack. The animal dove back at him, his mouth clamping down on the Ashrak's ankle. Ler screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the sound of gunshots echoing through the hallway.

With a solid grip on something for the first time, Jaffer didn't release his teeth when the Beretta fired close to him. The big lab wasn't afraid of gunfire; he'd grown up around it, after all. He shook his head, trying to drive his teeth deeper, and Ler screamed again. It felt like his whole leg was going to be ripped off. Even through the protective fabric of his boot the teeth were buried in his flesh, and they were gouging. He was stuck on his belly, unable to roll over because the creature had sprawled on him once more, this time with far more leverage, since Ler only had one leg free and couldn't twist around to get a shot off with the B'kedricti he was holding.

Jack rolled off the motionless body of the Ashrak he'd shot, but he left his hand on him, not wanting to lose track of the assassin. Gasping for breath, he ran his hand along the body, trying to find an arm, which would lead to a hand holding a weapon. Jack hadn't seen the B'kedricti appear, which meant the Ashrak was still holding it, most likely, and he didn't want to take any chances. He wasn't completely positive that the Ashrak was dead. You didn't get to live to be an old SGC team leader by making foolish mistakes.

Ler glanced over at the human that was kneeling close by, realizing even as he fought off the creature attacking him that the sound of the battle next to him had quieted. He kicked at the creature again – using the leg that wasn't in the animal's teeth – and again Jaffer growled, but didn't drop his advantage. The Ashrak brought his B'kedricti up, pointing it at Jack, who was completely unaware of the danger he was in. Maybe if he killed the human, the animal would die, too. Or would at least be distracted enough that Ler could make an escape and get back to his ship. Before he could fire, though, a streak of blonde and another snarl – this one a little less deep, although no less intimidating – heralded the arrival of another assailant.

Jack looked over at the snarl, his hand pausing just as he felt the cool almost metallic weapon that was probably the barrel of the Ashrak's primary weapon. Jack had come out of nowhere while O'Neill had been searching the downed Ashrak and had joined his brother in the fight. He heard another cry of pain when Jack's just as formidable teeth flashed, looking for – and finding – a target, and he a B'kedricti appeared with a clatter as Ler dropped his. The weapon was pointed right at him, Jack realized, distracted from his own search. He was smart enough to figure out that Jack's timely arrival had probably just saved his life.

He was still thinking that when there was a sudden movement under his hand, and he felt yet another flash of pain as the Ashrak he'd shot suddenly let him know that he wasn't dead, yet. Only the fact that the sharp knife was a slashing weapon and not a stabbing one saved Jack's life as Kuy tried one final, desperate ploy of his own. He stabbed at the human leaning over him with the knife, and felt the point of the blade deflected by ribs. Instead of stabbing through them, the knife slashed a gash along them, missing the heart he'd been aiming for, and tangling in a metal chain the human was wearing around his neck before the Ashrak could pull back for another attempt.

"O'Neill!"

Jack jerked backwards, away from the knife and the Ashrak, and immediately heard the unmistakable sound of a zat being fired. Energy surrounded the invisible form of the Ashrak, and Jack kicked out with his foot to make sure the assassin was still there. He felt something solid, and kicked again just for good measure.

"Do it again, Teal'c!" Jack gasped, clutching his side with his already bloody hand.

The zat fired again, and then again, and when Jack kicked out with his foot a second later, there was nothing there. One down, one to go.

"Jack! Down!"

The yellow lab reacted immediately to the command, and stopped his attack, bounding away from the Ashrak, who'd been trying to protect his body from the two creatures attacking him. Jack knew Jaffer would never obey the same command from Teal'c.

"Jaffer! Off!"

Jaffer broke off the attack as well, jumping clear and diving at Jack, as if to protect him on the off chance the Ashrak decided to press an attack on the human now that he was free of the dogs. Jack (the dog) did the same thing, coming over and taking a guardian position on the other side of O'Neill. Ler started to scramble for his knife, intent on attacking something – when the zat fired again, and the Ashrak screamed. Holding Jack's collar with one hand, and Jaffer's with the other, Jack kicked out in the space the two labs had just been. It wasn't that far from his own battle scene after all. The hall wasn't that big.

"You got him!" Jack panted, moving his foot. "Do it again!" He didn't care about their weaponry, or finding anything on the bodies they might be able to use for their own purposes later on. Jack wanted them dead and gone. That was the only way they wouldn't be a threat to Shawn.

He fell backwards, still clutching the collars of the big labs who were protecting him. He didn't see Teal'c fire the zat again, but he heard the next two shots. Two down. But at what cost to him? He rolled over, ignoring the pain from the knife wounds, and using his hand on Jaffer's collar to help him get to his knees.

"Shawn..."

The boy wasn't moving. Neither was the older cadet sprawled next to him. Jack had seen them take a hit. He knew that if the weapon had been set to kill, he'd been too late. He scrambled over to the two of them, even as Janet Fraiser and Teal'c came over as well, Janet dropping down next to the two fallen cadets, and Teal'c going over to make sure there were no more Ashrak.

There weren't, though. Jaffer and Jack were already calming down – although Teal'c noticed that the squad of SG marines that had been brought with him stayed clear of both dogs. The Marines were well aware that the labs were still feeling the affects of all the adrenaline running through them, and would need a bit of time before they should be approached by anyone who didn't know them really well. Jack trotted over to stand beside Teal'c, and the Jaffa watched his dog, knowing that he'd be the first warning in the event that they'd missed one of the assassins.

Jaffer stayed right next to Jack, who was rolling Shawn clear of the other cadet, turning him over. The young man's chest and belly had small flecks of blood on them, but when Jack ran his hand along the tender skin, he only found very small cuts- the affect of the ricochet of concrete from one of the blasts. His hand left a smear of its own, though, as Jack reached for the boy's neck, feeling desperately for a pulse.

"He's alive," Janet said, from where she'd been doing the same thing with the other cadet. Brooks was already starting to make pained noises, and was trying to come around. He'd only taken an edge of the blast, and the tough New Yorker was struggling to consciousness, well aware that he and the kid were in danger.

"Shawn is, too," Jack said, pulling Shawn up into his arms and holding him close, relieved beyond words. He rested his cheek against Shawn's, and Jaffer whined softly and stuck his nose into the small area under Jack's chin, wanting to be in on the love fest. The boy wasn't coming around, but Jack wasn't worried. If he'd survived the initial blast, he'd be okay. It was just a matter of time. O'Neill shifted, pulling Shawn even closer, despite the fact that Janet was trying to get a look at the cadet and at Jack, and then he put his other arm around Jaffer, who licked his cheek, eagerly. Yeah, there wasn't anything the two of them couldn't do together.


	23. 23

"Jack?"

He felt a hand come down on his shoulder, and looked up into Sam's worried blue eyes.

"I'm fine, Sam. So is Shawn."

Sam smiled, and knelt beside them. When she'd come down the stairs and out the door, she'd been frozen by the scene in the hall. Janet was kneeling over one cadet, who was mostly motionless, and Jack was clutching Shawn, who was completely motionless as far as Sam could tell. Assuming the worst, especially since Jack was looking incredibly vulnerable with Jaffer's head tucked up so close to him and his arm around the lab, Sam had hesitated to include herself in the small group.

"He's not hurt?" She asked, frowning at the blood that was smeared on the young man's chest and belly, and on Jack's hand. If _Shawn_ wasn't hurt, someone was.

"He got hit with a blast from the Ashrak gun, but he's alive."

"Then-"

"Are you injured, Colonel?" Janet asked, looking up from Brooks. She was distracted when the older cadet suddenly opened his eyes and struggled into a sitting position, looking around him, wildly.

"What the fuck?"

"Easy..." Janet put her hand on the young man's chest, frowning. The cadet looked over at the door, as if expecting an attack to come at any time.

"We've _gotta_ get out of here!"

"Relax," Jack told him. "You're safe."

"_No_! You don't _understand_," Brooks responded, looking over at Jack, as if noticing him for the first time – which was probably the case. He saw Shawn and Sam, and Jaffer, and Jack thought he saw a gleam of wistfulness in the young man's eyes for just a moment, before they turned wild once more. "They're _invisible_! They hide!" he looked around, clutching his side when the motion made the broken rib remind him not to move so quickly. "They're probably all around us..."

"They're not," Janet said, soothing his cheek with her hand, trying to calm him with her best bedside manner. "They're all dead."

He shook his head.

"They _hide_! You can't _see_ them! You don't _know_!"

"_I_ know," Jack told him, handing Shawn carefully over to Sam, and getting to his knees, painfully. Jaffer moved slightly, giving Jack support, which he took gratefully, putting his hand on the black lab's shoulder. He moved over to kneel next to Fraiser, who noticed there was a fair amount of blood coating O'Neill's shirt and pant leg. "They're _dead_, son. Don't doubt it for a minute. They can't hide from the _dogs_, no matter how well they hide from _people_."

Ian's eyes flickered from Jack to Jaffer, and his hand reached out hesitantly towards the lab, who sniffed him calmly.

"They attacked River and Shawn..."

"We know," Sam said. "River's upstairs in the dorm room. He'll be all right, he's just knocked out."

"Shawn?" Brooks looked over at the younger cadet, who was still motionless.

"He'll be fine, too," Sam said, smiling as reassuringly as she could.

Ian's hand stroked Jaffer's shoulder, almost absently. The black lab didn't mind. He didn't _know_ this person, but he smelled faintly of Shawn – who Jaffer _did_ know – and Jack seemed to like him, which was how Jaffer judged most of the people around him. If the guy wanted to pet him, who was _he_ to say no?

"You're Shawn's dad?" Ian asked Jack, who was so surprised by the question that he actually nodded before he could say no. Had Shawn told him? Who was this kid? It wasn't like Shawn to tell something like that to everyone. The boy was far better at keeping a secret than that.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Ian Brooks..." he winced when Janet began running her hands along the inside of his shirt. The doctor had noticed he was favoring his side and wanted to find out why. "I'm one of Shawn's roommates."

"Broken rib," Janet said, moving the young man's hand away from his side. There was no doubt it was broken and not just cracked. Not when it was already swelling like it was. "You need to lie down, and hold still, young man." She told him, helping him down into a prone position that would put less strain on the rib, and would lessen any chance of a jagged edge doing damage to an organ.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Ah, if only she extracted such immediate obedience from those around her! Janet opened the cadet's shirt and started to tape the ribs, even while Ian tried to continue his conversation with Jack.

"We ran – _I_ _ran_ – down the hall. I thought they were after Shawn, so I made him come with me... he wanted to stay with Hayden..." It hurt to talk, but Ian wanted them to know what had happened, and if he'd been wrong, he wanted to admit to it. Especially if River had been further hurt by the attackers because Ian had left him alone with them.

"You did the right thing," Jack said, frowning. The young man was pale and probably shouldn't be talking. "Rest, okay? We can talk later."

"Who used the tray?" Sam asked, curiously.

Jack looked over at her.

Ian smiled.

"I did. I snuck up on them and clobbered one of them. They weren't invisible, then. Only later..."

"Stop talking," Janet told him, running her hand along his cheek once more, and gesturing to one of the Marines that had come with them. "I want him and Shawn both taken to the infirmary."

"Here?" Jack asked.

Janet nodded.

"They've got a fine doctor here, Colonel. I know her."

"You're a _Colonel_?" Ian asked.

"Kind of a let-down, huh?" Sam said, smiling. "He doesn't look much like one, sometimes, does he?"

"Smart ass." Jack scowled, but Sam knew he wasn't mad. There was no way he could be mad. Not at her, and not at this kid. Jack had already decided the kid had probably been the one to buy him and Jaffer the extra time they needed to get there. He put his hand on the young man's cheek, in a very uncharacteristic motion when it came to dealing with people he didn't know. "Rest, okay? You did great, and I want to hear the whole story later, but for now you need to let Doctor Fraiser take care of you."

"So do you," Sam told him. She had finally managed to get a look at the blood that was soaking his upper thigh, and his shirt.

Jack nodded, and looked over at the door, where a crowd of faculty and Air Force personnel were starting to enter, being led over by a couple of the Marines brought from the SGC – along with a couple of corpsmen with gurneys. Also with them was a doctor, who looked like she'd just been roused out of bed. A captain, who didn't seem at all surprised to see who her patients were as she walked over.

"I probably ought to come up with a story, first, though," Jack said. "Unless _you_ want to do it?"

Sam shook her head, smiling. There was no way.

Jack looked down at the cadet, "You don't tell anyone what happened, understand?" He said, softly. "Until I have a chance to talk to you."

Ian nodded, not understanding why, but knowing an order when he heard one.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good."

Jack turned back to Sam and Shawn, although Jaffer stayed where he was, allowing Ian to pet him a bit more.

"He's not coming around," Sam said, looking down at the young man in her arms.

"He will, Sam." Jack wasn't worried. He moved to the side when the medics swarmed around Ian and took Shawn gently from Sam's arms and put him up on a gurney. Jaffer came over to stand next to him, and Sam moved as well, resisting the urge to slide her arm around Jack's waist.

"How's your head?" She asked, remembering suddenly the almost debilitating headache he'd been suffering from. It didn't seem to be bothering him all that much, just then.

Jack looked at her in surprise, his hand pressing against his side, which ached abominably. He hated knives. More and more with each passing year.

"It doesn't hurt at all..."

Sam gave him an odd look, and Jack shrugged.

"That's odd."

"We live in an odd world, Mrs. O'Neill..." Jack told her softly, as Teal'c came back through the door leading to the staircase. He and Jack had just finished a thorough sweep of all the dorms, just in case there were more Ashrak. The relaxed look on the Jaffa's face told Sam and Jack both that there was nothing else for them to be concerned about. At least not that day. Sam smiled, and nodded.

"Indeed, we do, Jack..." But it was a _good_ world.


	24. Epilogue

_Epilogue _

"Jack?"

"Hmmm?"

"Wake up."

"I'm awake."

"Open your eyes and prove it..."

There was only one person that could get away with saying that and not get a dirty look, or a scowl. Jack O'Neill opened his eyes and looked up at that one person. And smiled.

"You're home already?"

"It's almost seven."

"_PM_?"

Sam smiled, and came around to the other side of the couch. Jack had been dozing on the sofa – along with his security blanket, who'd gotten up when Sam had arrived home and met her at the door. He was wearing loose sweats and a pair of socks, and nothing more. Around his right forearm was a swathing of bandages, and around his upper chest was a matching set, covering a couple of rows of very neat and delicate stitches. His reminder of the battle with the Ashrak a week and a half before. The gashes were fairly well healed - they itched terribly, but not much more, but Fraiser was being cautious with them.

Jack was on medical leave until the stitches came out, which was scheduled for the following Monday, and Sam privately suspected that Hammond had done that on purpose, since the base was preparing for an invasion by a camera crew, complete with orders that told everyone to pretty much be on their best behavior. Better to keep Jack from that as long as possible – especially since he'd been feeling like shit and had been fairly grumpy with anyone but Sam and Jaffer.

"How are things?" Jack asked, moving slightly, and giving Sam a chance to sit on the couch with him. Actually, once she sat down, he settled his head in her lap, and closed his eyes once more, enjoying the fact that she was running her fingers through his hair. He loved being touched by her, and she knew it.

"Oh, just peachy." She smiled, and tapped his belly with something sharp.

Jack opened his eyes and looked down, and saw it was an envelope.

"What's that?"

"An envelope."

"Yeah?"

"Mmm-hmmm."

"What _kind_ of envelope?"

"The kind that holds your very first letter home from Shawn..."

He reached out and took it from her – only just keeping himself from grabbing it out of her hand.

"Really?" He couldn't help but smile. A letter from Shawn! They'd left the young man at the Academy that night – once he'd opened his eyes and Jack had been assured by Doctor Fraiser and Captain Reed – who was also a Doctor – that the boy was going to be fine. It wouldn't have done to take him, no matter how much Jack had wanted to, and Shawn himself had called his mother and told her she was fine. Which was a good thing, since Dotty had just about convinced the Captain of the ocean liner she and James were on to turn around and head back to Miami so she could get home. How she'd known Shawn was in danger, she wouldn't tell Jack over the phone, but she'd promised to have a talk with him when she returned home. From a slightly more extended vacation.

"Open it," Sam told him, just as curious to hear how things were going.

Jack slid the envelope open and pulled out the letter. It was written in pretty much the sloppiest handwriting Sam had ever seen – except Jack's, which was even worse. Sam wondered how Jack could even read it, and decided that he could read it because he wrote like that.

_Dear Jack and Sam..._

_So, I'm out of the infirmary. Doctor Reed didn't really want to let me out, but I kept telling her there was nothing wrong with me, and since the tests she took – and she took a ton of them – showed her that I was right, she really had no reason to keep me. So she let me go._

"Sounds like someone I know," Sam said, smiling.

Jack couldn't help but smile, too.

"No one likes hospitals."

"Uh huh. Keep reading."

_River and Ian are still there, so right now I get the room to myself. Which is actually a little lonely, but don't tell them I said that. You wouldn't believe the rumors that are running around the school! Everyone is positive that Ian, River and I finally had it out and tried to kill each other, and the teachers who know the truth aren't telling them otherwise. Of course, once they come back to the room and we get along well, they'll probably have to come up with a different rumor, but I kind of like that one. After all, I'm the first one out of the infirmary, so if there was an epic fight, I must have won, right?_

Sam laughed.

_Anyways, Ian's pretty pleased with himself right now, and I suppose he has a right to be. He did good, and he won't let me forget that it was Jack who told him so. He's also impressed with the fact that he figured out you're my dad when no one's really supposed to know. He loves keeping secrets, and that one's definitely one I don't want bandied about. Like everyone needs to know my real dad's a Colonel? Then I'd really have to measure up around here, huh?_

"I bet he's measuring up just fine..."

Jack nodded his agreement, but was already reading on.

_Congratulations on the baby. Mom told me, so I hope it wasn't supposed to be a secret. River and Ian both know, and Captain Reed overheard me telling them, so if Doctor Fraiser doesn't know, she probably will._

Jack's free hand went sliding up Sam's leg and to her lower abdomen. There wasn't and swelling there, yet, to give away Sam's condition, and she hadn't had any morning sickness – or _evening_ or _afternoon_ or _middle of the night_ sickness, for that matter, so no one suspected – except Janet, who'd given Sam a complete physical the moment she'd take a home pregnancy test and it had come back positive – only the day after the Ashrak battle. Sam herself had suspected she was pregnant before then, but she wanted to wait, since she hadn't felt sick, and hadn't wanted to get Jack's hopes up. To her relief, Janet's physical had proven the embryo had attached itself into a proper spot in Sam's uterus, and there'd be no repeat of the tubular pregnancy that might have killed her so many years before.

Sam put her hand over Jack's, smiling.

"Keep reading."

"It's almost done."

_Don't forget, Jack, that I get to baby-sit her or him when the time comes._

_It's almost lights out, so I'm going to have to cut this short, but I'll send you another one soon, and don't forget to write back. I'm not homesick but I do miss you guys – and Jaffer. River and Ian say hi, and say for you two not to worry about me. They're taking good care of me. (Yeah, right. River can't get out of bed without hitting his head on the bunk and knocking himself out – I think I'm going to trade beds with him – and Ian's tripped on his crutches three times already, and broke his right arm in one of the tumbles. Which is why he's still in the infirmary._

_I love you! Give Sam a kiss for me, Jack, and tell Jaffer I'll see him soon._

_Yours,_

_Shawn._

_PS: I found a chest hair the other day! But River yanked it out and told me he was going to send it to my mom, so you don't get to see it. God only knows how long it's going to take me to grow another one._

Sam smiled, and took the letter from Jack when he handed it to her.

"We could put it on the Wall," she suggested.

"Nah. There's going to be quite a few of these – there'd better be, at least. We'd fill up the wall fairly quickly, and then there won't be any room for pictures. I'll go buy an album or two; we can keep them in that. Someday he might want to show them to his kids."

"Good idea."

"I'm full of good ideas."

"You're full of something..."

Jack smiled, and reached for her hand.

"Did you eat?"

"Nope."

"Hungry?"

"Starved."

"You relax and I'll make dinner."

Sam nodded, and slid out from under him. She would have turned and headed for the bedroom to change, but Jack caught her hand, holding her in place.

"So? Where does our kid go? Air Force Academy or Annapolis?"

"Not West Point?" Sam asked him, smiling.

"The _Army_? Are you kidding?"

She leaned over and kissed him softly.

"We'll worry about that when the times comes. First, we'll get him or her out of diapers, then we'll decide his future. Okay?"

"Whatever you say..."

Uh huh. Sam kissed him again, and then headed down the hall to change. She was looking forward to a quiet weekend, with nothing to do but sit with Jack and Jaffer and talk about nothing, and everything. Shawn was doing fine, and was adjusting well to his older classmates, and Jack was healing nicely. There was a baby on the way – no time soon, but she wasn't in any hurry to rush through her first pregnancy. Of course, first they had to get through this whole camera thing coming up, but it was just camera crews and a reporter whose name she couldn't remember off the top of her head. How bad could that be?

_The End_

Okay! The End! Another story developing, of course, since I wouldn't mention the camera stuff and not do a story about it, but it's another story and not this one. What did you all think of this one? Liked it? Hated it? Favorite line? Not enough action? I know it had a lot of swearing, but young men swear a great deal around each other and I wanted to be authentic. River and Ian are neither one perfect angels. (Shawn, of course, is, lol)


End file.
